By: Kanto
Kai Okanta
Students participating in
initiatives of Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
(MCIT) have secured top honours at Startup Teen 2026, a national competition
focused on entrepreneurship and technological innovation among young students.
A team from WE Applied
Technology School won first place for the second consecutive year with Baseeta,
an application designed to connect customers directly with technicians and
suppliers for home maintenance and finishing services while promoting transparent
pricing and more reliable service.
The winning team, from
Alexandria, was part of a strong performance by WE Schools, which saw 79
students submit 19 projects across eight governorates, with two teams advancing
to the final stage.
Third place went to Insyte,
a team from the Egyptian Language School that competed independently after
developing its entrepreneurial skills through MCIT’s Digital Egypt Cubs
Initiative (DECI). The team received a prize of EGP 25,000 and the bronze trophy.
The Startup Teen 2026
competition concluded with a final ceremony at Elsewedy University of
Technology (SUTech), attended by government officials, local and international
partners and representatives from the innovation and entrepreneurship
ecosystem.
The final judging panel
included experts and specialists from MCIT, the Academy of Scientific Research
and Technology (ASRT) and several specialised companies.
Startup Teen is described as
the first student competition in Egypt and the Middle East to combine
entrepreneurship with artificial intelligence and applied technology. It
targets preparatory and secondary school students aged between 13 and 18, with
the objective of developing a new generation of entrepreneurs capable of using
modern technologies to address real-world challenges.
This year’s competition
attracted 102 teams and 430 students from 35 schools across 10 governorates,
with 45 teams progressing to the finals.
