Egyptian Food Bank has collaborated with Life Makers Foundation in the UniGreen National Competition and announced its collaboration with the winning startups. This competition, which focused on innovative solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change, is a part of the UniGreen project led by Life Makers Foundation. Egyptian Food Bank support these startups and aim to leverage their services and products to achieve significant developmental impacts on its supply chains and bolster the organization’s environmental conservation efforts.
The competition is funded by the European Union, led by Life Makers Foundation and Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport facilitated by NilePreneurs in collaboration with Samsung, Nile University, Egyptian Food Bank and governmental partnerships. Mr. Mohsen Sarhan, the CEO of the organization, served on the main judging panel of the UniGreen National competition, contributing to the selection of the winning teams and presenting the competition awards.
As part of this collaboration, the Egyptian Food Bank has decided to award a contract to ECOPACK, a startup specializing in manufacturing alternative packaging materials from agricultural waste such as sugarcane. The Egyptian Food Bank will purchase one million food containers of various sizes from ECOPACK and will support the company by paying for the order upfront to build its operational capacities. After delivery of first batch EFB will maintain the right of first purchase on cost plus method for a period of three years”. Notably, the project will remain entirely owned by the entrepreneurs, with the Egyptian Food Bank holding no equity stake.
This initiative is part of the empowerment pillar within the Egyptian Food Bank’s strategy, aimed at supporting small-scale farmers and startups by providing technical assistance to improve product quality and environmental sustainability. This, in turn, enhances individual income levels and foster sustainable development.
This year’s UniGreen National Competition received over 400 applications from across the country. The Egyptian Food Bank, alongside a consortium of specialized entities, shortlisted these to 20 promising projects from 20 startups, out of which 10 companies advanced in the competition. The five winning teams are Soilsolir, Agrican, Greenflames, Neo Petra, and Food Sorting AI.
