创业风暴席卷中东

    最终获得200，000美元大奖的是Bey2ollak公司。这个团队由六人组成，选择的项目也是埃及最棘手的问题之一，也就是交通。该公司提供一种众包型交通信息服务与手机应用，可以跟踪开罗和亚历山大港所有重要公路的交通状况。谷歌负责东南欧、中东与非洲业务的副总裁默罕默德•加德特称：“我简直不敢相信自己的眼睛。我花了一天时间与决赛选手会面。他们的热情、热烈、自由的表达、思维领导力，以及对不可能的理性蔑视，所有这些都彻底打动了我。我感觉像是跟谷歌自己的员工在一起度过了一天。”

    这些大赛意义何在？法克哈拉尼称：“虽然我们相信在埃及和整个中东地区，互联网绝对是经济发展的推动因素，但同时也是发展最不足的领域。今年，我们投入了200,000万美元，但我们承诺，未来几年将再投入230万美元。科技必将改变埃及。”

    法德尔相信，就像在美国一样，通过这种集会建立的连通性有助于进一步促进创新。她说：“从定义上来看，创业者是孤独的。他们失败的可能性很大。初创企业参加大赛获得的精神支持不容低估，因为当他们看到其他人正在这个地区做着与自己同样的事情，并且获得了成功，他们就会意识到，自己并不孤单。”

    法德尔和法克哈拉尼都认为，现在中东地区的创业风刚刚刮起。实际上，来自当地和其他地区的机构已经举办过数百场创业大赛，未来还会出现更多。法德尔说：“成功造就成功。这是最基本的数学常识。”

    克里斯多夫•M•施罗德@cmschroed是华盛顿特区和纽约的企业家、风险投资家，以及在线内容与社交平台初创企业healthcentral.com的前任CEO。去年一月，施罗德出手了这家网站。目前，他正在撰写一本关于中东地区科技初创企业的新书，预计将在2013年出版。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    The winner of $200,000, Bey2ollak, is a six-person team taking on one of the most vexing problems in Egypt – traffic. It offers a crowd-sourced traffic information service and mobile app to track all major roads in Cairo and Alexandria. "I could not believe my eyes as I spent a day meeting with the finalists," says Mohammed Gawdat, Vice President of Google (GOOG) in Southern and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. "The passion, the energy, freedom of expression, thought leadership and the healthy disregard for the impossible blew me away. I felt as if I were spending the day with Googlers."

    Do these competitions matter? "We believe that the Internet is a net contributor to the economy in the region and in Egypt," notes Fakharany, "But it is also the best kept secret. We spent $200,000 in this one, but we are committed to spend another $2.3 m over the next couple of years. The face of Egypt can be changed through technology."

    Fadel believes that a connectedness created in gatherings like these help foster further innovation, just as it does in the U.S. "Being an entrepreneur is, by definition a lonely thing," she says. "The odds of failure are great. One cannot underestimate the importance of mental support to startups when participating because they realize that they are not the only ones working hard in this region when they see others like them doing the same and succeeding."

    Both Fadel and Fakharany believe we are in the earliest days of this startup boom in the Middle East. Global and local institutions, in fact, have been hosting hundreds of competitions throughout the region, and more will come. "Success breeds success," says Fadel. "It's just basic math."

    Christopher M. Schroeder @cmschroed is a Washington, D.C. and New York-based entrepreneur, venture investor and former CEO of the online content and social platform start-up healthcentral.com, which he sold last January. He is writing a book about tech start-ups in the Middle East due Spring 2013.