During a ceremony that took place at Cairo University, the Egyptian leading real estate developer, Tatweer Misr, signed a contract with the Faculty of Engineering to sponsor a team of students working to design and build ultra-efficient and eco-friendly vehicles. Dr. Ahmed Shalaby, CEO & Managing Director of Tatweer Misr, attended the ceremony alongside Dr. Mohamed Tag El Deen, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University, and met with the students participating in this year’s Shell Eco-Marathon Asia Competition, who were praised for their tremendous efforts in reaching this event.
In line with its vision, this sponsorship echoes the set of values long adopted by Tatweer Misr; mainly geared towards empowering youth and providing them with the necessary tools to transform their ideas into accomplishments. Ahmed Shalaby describes Tatweer Misr’s support of Egypt’s participation in the competition as motivation to inspire Egyptian engineers of the future to turn their vision of sustainable mobility into reality. Thus, it was an inevitable to sponsor this endeavor given that empowering youth is a vital part in the company’s DNA structure. Tatweer Misr’s flagship project IL Monte Galala is a prime example of the company’s focus on mobility and accessibility issues incorporated into their urban design of the exclusive gated community.
Tatweer Misr will be the title sponsor for the Egyptian team, which has taken part in previous editions of the competition. Comprised of thirty students with various engineering disciplines; including electrical, mechanical, aerospace, communication, as well as computer and electronics. The team is entering this edition with two energy efficient designs; the first depends on gasoline, while the second is a battery electric vehicle that produces zero emissions. This year’s Shell Eco-Marathon Asia will take place in Thailand and will feature nine events aiming to find one car that travels the longest distance using the least amount of fuel. The marathon is one of the leading global energy-efficiency competition programs held around the world, it challenges student teams from around the world to design, build, and drive the most energy-efficient cars.
Dr. Shalaby explained “Our mission is not only concerned with sustainable community building”. “However, as a responsible and sustainable business, we constantly seek to endorse choices based on enhancing and capitalizing on the environment that surrounds us in a way that protects and preserves it for future generations, this goes beyond providing mobility and accessibility options,”. Furthermore, Dr. Shalaby emphasized on Tatweer Misr’s deep-rooted belief in finding tangible solutions for tomorrow.
Dr. Mohamed Tag El Deen, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University also commented stating that, “Foundation for professional and technical competency, which is set to lead the development of Egypt, should be laid during university education. A mix between theoretical and practical studies is indispensable to education in a faculty as prestigious as the Faculty of Engineering at the Cairo University,”. Dr. Tag El Deen added “I’d really like to use this opportunity to thank Tatweer Misr for sponsoring and supporting the team in this global marathon, w We’ve grown accustomed to the company’s efforts in empowering youth since it has clearly made education and entrepreneurship among its community program objectives”. “I believe that an effective cooperation between the government and the private sectors is the best way to sustain economic and social development in Egypt,” he added.
Concluding the signing ceremony Dr. Shalaby said, “Providing support to young entrepreneurs with potential into their business model is a key part of both our company and citizenship agendas; it helps us contribute to the development of a new entrepreneurial mindset in the Egyptian society while driving job creation and economic growth,”.
The Shell Eco-Marathon Asia Competition dates back to 1939, and since then it has expanded globally and now includes many energy types and motivates debate around the future of energy and mobility. The Egyptian team was the first team from the MENA region to partake in this competition back in 2014.
