Gemini Africa, an Orascom Group company, announced the 3 Uplift4GFF Competition winners. The competition by Gemini Africa and the El Gouna Film Festival was established to promote entrepreneurship in the field of media and entertainment and to support the film industry through innovative ideas and projects. The initiative comes within the framework of the company’s endeavor to positively influence the entrepreneurship ecosystem and support startups.

The three winning companies are Hall of Talents, a platform that connects filmmakers, artists, and professionals to share cinematic experiences, Droovy, a platform that specializes in designing and developing interactive filmmaking, and The Egyptian Cinema Experience, a platform that aims to preserve Egypt’s cinematic heritage and educate people around it through a virtual museum.

Adly Thoma, CEO of Gemini Africa, said: “By taking a throwback at why we kicked off Uplift4GFF we are reminded of what we always strive for at Gemini Africa … fostering young talents & creative entrepreneurs and giving them the right exposure & access to realize their dreams through availing unprecedented business opportunities. Bow following the extraordinary response that we received in both of our events from filmmaking industry giants at GFF, we feel very proud of all our applicants who joined us here not just of our 3 winners and how far they have all come… We are also really excited about our success in bridging the gap between entertainment and entrepreneurship and looking forward to seeing how injecting technology will uplift the industry!” He added, “We believe in our Gemini Africa community and trust that with their innovative ideas, we will be able to take the show business it to the next level”.

The competition winners also gave comments to WAYA in which they reflected on the competition.

Mina Makram, Founder of Hall of Talents, said: “The competition is a great opportunity for us to communicate with workers in the film sector, and there is no better place than the El Gouna Festival to achieve this. We received advice not only from businessmen such as engineer Naguib Sawiris but also from industry experts such as Mohamed Hefzy and the rest of the members, on the business model and launch strategies, thanks to Adli Touma and his amazing team, for launching this initiative.

“Uplift4GFF gave me a priceless opportunity to present my technology to industry veterans and gain invaluable exposure within the Egyptian filmmaking industry. The feedback I received was amazing and people I was introduced to were extremely helpful. My plan is to penetrate the market by converting the generated leads into a portfolio of success stories within the interactive media sphere. This can then help me achieve my goal of disrupting the filmmaking industry in Egypt and the middle east and becoming a market leader in this type of interactive film production, ” Omar Khaled, Droovy’s Co-Founder, said to WAYA

The founders of The Egyptian Cinema Experience said: “This pitching competition was a true life experience for various reasons. We got to have the right exposure for our startup and connect with people from the industry. It gave us some sort of validation to hear how great our idea was from multiple cinema gurus and a true sense of persistence to achieve our dream.  After the networking event, we got several recommendations to start our project online, So as a next step we will be viewing this option. We also want to work on developing a business model and move from the idea phase to the real implementation of the Egyptian Cinema Experience.”

The jury included Naguib Sawiris, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Orascom Investment and Gemini Holding, Adly Touma, CEO of Gemini Africa, Actress, Sherine Reda, Amir Ramses, the Artistic Director of the El Gouna Film Festival, broadcaster Nardine Farag, and Sherine Majoura, TikTok’s Head of Strategic Partnership in the Middle East and Africa.

It is noteworthy that Gemini Africa has signed a partnership with TikTok, to integrate technological progress with creative entrepreneurship. As well as to add a new dimension to filmmaking in Egypt and Africa. It operates under the belief that creativity and innovation are two main pillars for the development of filmmaking and content. As a result, Gemini Africa will become the flagship arm for Tik Tok. In parallel, Tik Tok will provide interactive spaces and content on its platform, in addition to many local and regional events and activities.