During one of the group mentorship sessions at Mix N' Mentor Dubai in 2015. (Image via Wamda)

Cairo’s 20 million-strong population has long been a breeding ground for some of the region’s top startups, and once again it’ll be the opening stage for Wamda’s Mix N’ Mentor series. The 2016 series opener will be held on March 17, at The Greek Campus in downtown Cairo.

Networking

Mix N' Mentor is a cosy event: it’s all about peer-to-peer learning and networking with high quality mentors. Entrepreneurs will build new connections and deepen old ones. The event, which takes place in five or six Arab cities every year, has gone through many iterations in order to build a day that answers entrepreneurs’ main needs in this region.

As per follow-up surveys we distribute after each Mix N’ Mentor, 74 percent of past participants say they saw a direct improvement on their businesses.

Mentorship sessions

At the core of the event are the mentorship sessions. Entrepreneurs will be matched with mentors based on profiles and needs. Whether in groups or one-on-one, we bring in local, regional and global experts, to sit with entrepreneurs and help them find solutions for their challenges. Various topics will be addressed throughout the sessions

Mentors who will share their expertise include LMTD founder Will Hutson, Con O’Donnell cofounder of The RiseUp Summit, Omar Elsahy general manager at Souq.com, Waleed Khalil CEO and founder of Oteena, Alvaro Abella CFO and managing partner at BECO Capital, Lina Shehadeh Senior VP - Marketing and Communications at the United Arab Bank, and Ziad Mokhtar partner at Ideavelopers.

Marketplace

Marketplace is the latest addition. This session helps startups understand how large corporates think and how to land deals with them. Some lucky startups will leave the day having sparked initial conversations for a deal. Some of the participating corporations in the Marketplace will be Aramex, Payfort and Souq.com.

Workshops

A number of workshops are also organised throughout the event, ranging from user acquisition to growth hacking, branding, to business development and team building.

At the end of the day, the whole group comes together to reflect on learnings in a fun, collaborative and very casual setting.

Interested entrepreneurs should fit the following criteria*:

• Be a founder/cofounder
• Have a running startup
• Be prepared to share information – including challenges – about your startup