DEMO Africa innovation tour: Meet the Cairo and Tunis winners

DEMO Africa has announced the two startups selected from Egypt and Tunisia to pitch at its launchpad in Morocco this October at DEMO Africa 2018 following pitch events held earlier this month in Cairo and Tunis.

In Egypt, healthtech startup Cheefa out-pitched 10 other companies, including Niotek, TriggerIt, MedMiser and 7aweshny to win the Cairo pitch event which was held last week on 11 July.

Cheefa’s app helps patients order and pay for medicine online. In a statement yesterday (19 July), the startup’s founder and CEO Doaa Aref (pictured above) pointed out that the startup also has a corporate social responsibility (CSR) platform that assists the less fortunate to access medicine through donations.

Cheefa and Toufala Kids, along with Moroccan startup Moldaig will represent North Africa at the DEMO Africa 2018

“Our services extend to non-pharmaceuticals via our ecommerce platform. We charge a monthly subscription fee for monthly packages and a commission fee on transactions via our app,” explained Aref.

According to business information platform Crunchbase, Cheefa — which was founded last year — raised $17 000 from Flat6Labs earlier this year in April.

Tunisian edtech startup Toufoula Kids was selected ahead of four other startups: HawKar, eTaxi, Naviacom and Logis to win the Tunis pitch event which was held on 9 July.

Toufoula Kids’ multi-lingual interactive educational app employs augmented reality (AR) games as well as paper content to help four to 10 year-old children discover and connect with their natural and social environment.

In a statement on Monday (16 July) Toufoula Kids’ Awalef Mosbeh said the platform addresses the lack of Arabic language digital content “which is only three percent compared to a strong demand of 60% in the MENA regions”.

“Toufoula Kids is not only a learning tool for children, at home, but also a tool for developing fun concept ideas and for raising awareness with partners who target children and their immediate environment,” said Mosbeh.

Cheefa and Toufala Kids, along with Moroccan startup Moldaig will represent North Africa at the DEMO Africa launchpad taking place in Morocco between 18 and 19 October.

At the launchpad, selected companies will be provided with resources worth over $150 000, including tools from Microsoft and Amazon Web Services to assist the founders in building their businesses.

Read more: DEMO Africa innovation tour: Here are the Cape Town, Douala winners
Read more: Here are the three winners of DEMO Africa’s Accra event
Read more: Demo Africa Tour: Meet the four startups selected at Casablanca, Lagos events
Read more: Rental startup GetHosted, rewards app Loyal1 win Jozi leg of DEMO Africa tour

Featured image: Cheefa CEO and founder Doaa Aref pitching at the Cairo DEMO Africa event on 11 July (Supplied)