Winners for the Samsung Real Dreams Awards Announced in Egypt

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Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, recently hosted a Samsung Real Dreams Award celebration in Cairo, attended by the former Egyptian Minister of Education, Dr. Amr Salama, as well as top government, corporate, and civil society leaders. Nahdet El Mahrousa (NM), one of Egypt’s largest and most active youth-led NGOs, is the program’s implementing partner.  

The Samsung Real Dreams program, a joint initiative with the International Youth Foundation (IYF), seeks to improve prospects for employment and income generation among Egyptian youth. As part of that effort, the Samsung Real Dreams Award has been established to promote innovation among young entrepreneurs, with award funds being used to seed new business start-ups and other business projects initiated by the students upon their graduation. Award contestants were evaluated on innovation, feasibility, relevance, and research methodology as well as the quality of presentation and teamwork skills.  

Mr. Duke Park, Branch Manager, Samsung Electronics Cairo, commented: “We are delighted to give students the opportunity to explore, create and innovate with projects that will be beneficial to this first step in their careers. The selected projects put forward to the panel demonstrated innovation, expertise and the will to succeed. These are important attributes for youth to acquire prior to entering the job market.”  

The Cairo event brought together the fifteen finalists competing for the Samsung Real Dream Award, and then announced the five winning projects that would receive the EGP 50,000 award. The award-winning teams were composed of students from universities in Cairo, Helwan, Zagazig and Menya.

The Samsung Real Dreams program is a partnership led by Samsung Electronics Company and IYF to address the needs of unemployed youth in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. The initiative, which seeks to reach more than 4,000 young people, ages 18 to 35, offers training in ICT skills, life skills for employability, entrepreneurship, vocational training, and job placement and enterprise development opportunities. The program in Egypt targets 2,535 Egyptian youth, and is expected to create 370 internships, jobs and entrepreneurial businesses.  

One of the award-winning projects was a micro air vehicle, Robocon 2010—a project that aims to improve robotics technology in Egypt including development of a robotic arm to identify and relocate objects in its workspace with a video camera used as a visual feedback.  

Samia Gamal, one of the winners and a member of the team that developed Robocon 2010, noted: “The Samsung Real Dreams Award program represents the ideal platform for us to be innovative and creative as it provides us with the opportunity, tools and knowledge to further succeed. On behalf of my fellow contestants, we would like to thank Samsung Electronics for giving us the chance to take part in a prestigious program with such a noble cause of nurturing youth.”  

Ahmed Samir, another winner, added:  “I am proud to be part of the Samsung Real Dreams Awards program as it provides us with the right support and the opportunity to showcase our work," he said, “Throughout the program, experienced instructors helped us in developing the understanding and expertise necessary for us to realize our dreams.”

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