Chefaa named winner of C3 Social Impact Accelerator Programme powered by HSBC

MUSCAT: Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3), a UAE-based social enterprise with a mission to help entrepreneurs in the Middle East unlock their growth potential and maximise their positive impact on the community, has announced the winners of its flagship C3 Social Impact Accelerator programme, powered by HSBC.

Chefaa, PraxiLabs from Egypt and Nabta Health from UAE competed with 17 other companies to emerge as winners and receive cash prizes up to US$10,000.The programme had received a record number of participants from the UAE, Egypt, Kuwait and Oman.

Chefaa has created a mobile app that allows chronic patients and those with non-communicable diseases to order and schedule medicines safely and quickly through a 3 click ordering/scheduling step and a real-time search engine to locate difficult to find medicines. In addition Chefaa has a CSR platform to match donations and help low-income patients afford their medicine.

The programme supports the achievement of key milestones in the journey of an entrepreneur and focuses on helping entrepreneurs achieve financial sustainability and solve major social challenges at scale. The 20 finalists participated in a week-long programme from February 2–7, 2019 with impact investors and other key stakeholders from the social enterprise world. All the finalists contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals in key areas such as health, education, clean water and gender equality. C3 provided a two-month programme of one-on-one support and a week of workshops, training and events to the finalists.

“Our C3 Social Impact Accelerator Programme is designed to help entrepreneurs develop the skills they need to deliver their social business goals and to have received close to 100 applications, with 20 finalists chosen, demonstrates the high level of interest from entrepreneurs in the social enterprise world,” said Medea Nocentini, Co-founder of C3.

“We would also like to thank our main sponsor and partner HSBC. They have been very supportive of all our finalists in the region and we look forward to expanding our geographical reach and number of programmes offered this year.”

Anna-Liisa Goggs, Co-founder of C3 added: “The response to our call to action has been quite remarkable and having judges, speakers and board members flying in from Europe, UK and India to join those senior corporate experts on the ground, simply because they believed in the programme and the blossoming ecosystem of social entrepreneurs in the region, has surpassed our expectations. It is a very exciting time for impact investors to be deploying capital in the Middle East.”

Commenting on the successful week of events Sabrin Rahman, Regional Head of Sustainability MENAT for HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, said: “Social enterprises will play a key role in helping address global sustainability challenges, both today and in the future. The C3 programme has focused on providing practical support, business planning and access to advice to help these organisations to flourish and grow. This is just the beginning of a great journey.”

According to HSBC Private Banking research, nearly a quarter (24%) of Middle Eastern entrepreneurs consider social responsibility, being active in the community or environmental responsibility as their top priority as a business owner, compared to the global average of 21%.

The research also revealed a connection between social impact and entrepreneurial ambition in the Middle East, with half of high growth potential entrepreneurs stating they created their ventures with the intention of driving positive social impact.

Now in its seventh year of operation, C3 aims to provide change-makers with a programme tailored to their needs. It has empowered more than 350 entrepreneurs to date, worked with around 1,500 experts and 10 corporate partners.