A collaboration between two Egyptian start-ups leads to the creation of a cheap Egyptian coating material that will enhance the quality of handmade products
Egypt's handicrafts start-ups face many challenges, such as product development or simply acquiring the best materials. This becomes harder when their goal is to create a product made completely from Egyptian materials. That was the challenge that Hoor-Masr, an Egyptian handicrafts start-up, faced when trying to enhance the quality of their product in order to be able to export it complying with the European standards.
Hoor-Masr Plates are used in a number of restaurants in the local market instead of regular sets given their uniqueness and beauty.
However, with restaurants heavy usage of their plates, the colors used to fade overtime, which is hindering their exports to some countries, as the quality of their product doesn't stay the same over time.
That's why they decided to use Yomken.com's crowdsolving platform, and take advantage of the wisdom of the crowd and expertise of chemists to create it.
This was the start of the collaboration between Hoor-Masr and Yomken.com under sponsorship from the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT). Yomken.com's team met with them and within a few weeks their challenge was published on the website. The challenge ran for around 7 weeks and received 16 solutions. After the solutions were evaluated by experts, the winner was a team of 2 professors from the National Research Centre. At the moment Hoor-Masr, Yomken.com and the winning team are in the process of implementing the solution.
"This is another step forward in connecting the scientific research with the industry and we look forward to the commercialization of the solution", said Tamer Taha, Founder and CEO of Yomken.com, emphasizing that the collaboration between start-ups in the country will be the main driver towards a stronger and more innovative economy.
Currently, Yomken.com also features two other challenges in the fields of electrical support provided by Mumm Startup and food processing provided by Nabd El Hayat Foundation. The winning solution for the first challenge will get 5000 EGP, plus marketing services from Mumm. While the second will get potential pre-incubation and piloting fund from Misr El Kheir GESR Incubator.
About Hoor Masr
Hoor-Masr is an Egyptian start-up that sells leather products, such as handbags and notebooks, as well as hand painted plates for decoration and daily usage. Their unique products use Egyptian materials and the paintings are derived from the Egyptian culture.
