Press Release.
Leena Al Olaimy, founder of Trillion Tree Fund is one of 25 founders advancing to the next round of pitching at the Entrepreneurship World Cup Global Finals, organizers announced today. The startup, selected from 100,000 registrations across 200 countries, will compete for a share of US$1 million in cash prizes.
The Trillion Tree Fund was launched in 2021 and they adopt a nature-based solutions (NbS), science, technology and market-based approach to scaling investments in forest and landscape restoration through their flagship product, Symbaiosys.
The announcement was made at the official launch event for Global Entrepreneurship Week, the first of 40,000 activities taking place across 200 countries November 8 to 14 to celebrate, support and empower entrepreneurs everywhere.
The Entrepreneurship World Cup is one of the world’s largest and most diverse pitch competitions and support programs for the next generation of entrepreneurs. Since launching in 2019, EWC has supported more than 300,000 participants from 200 countries, awarded $2 million in cash prizes and provided in-kind support and services valued at $150 million.
In 2021,100,000 EWC registrations were received from 200 countries. One thousand startups pitched at National Finals organized and judged by local entrepreneurship organizations across six continents plus the Middle East. Trillion Tree Fun won a top spot at Saudi Arabia’s National Final in December, organized by Misk Global Forum, Global Entrepreneurship Network and The Global Education & Leadership Foundation and supported by global partners including One Valley, Entrepreneurs’ Organization, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, GAN, Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs, and the organizations that hosted the National Finals.
The top 100 startups from around the world advanced to a virtual component of the Global Finals and the top 25 will travel to Riyadh for the final stage of the competition.
US$500,000 will be awarded for first place, $250,000 for second place and $100,000 for third place. Cash prizes of US$100,000 will also be awarded to the top scoring startups in the idea stage and social enterprise categories. All top 100 global finalists have access to US $75 million of in-kind services and support including from service providers like AWS, Segment, Brex, Hubspot and more.
The final pitches will be evaluated by a panel of international judges including:
- Ahmed Shalaby, President and CEO of Tatweer Misr (Egypt)
- Brigitte Baumann, Founder of Efino (Switzerland)
- Linda Lorraine Smith, Co-Chair of the Global Business Angel Network (USA)
- Preetham Naik, Principal at CactusVP (India)
- Rogelio De los Santos, Managing Partner at Dalus Capital (Mexico)
The Global Finals will take place at the Misk Global Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia later this year.
