Have you ever gone to an event and felt awkward about how to network with the people there? Whether it was your friend’s Halloween party last month or that conference on quantitative analysis that you had to attend for work, we’ve all had to deal with the social challenge of breaking the ice. Let’s be honest, sometimes the name game just doesn’t cut it.
Young Egyptian women and former college mates Mai Medhat and Nihal Fares realize this. That’s why the two have launched Eventtus, a mobile app that serves as the golden parachute from an inevitable social plane crash made up of ice-breaking games like two truths and a lie .
This past Monday the two former computer engineering majors attended a local selection panel held by the NGO Endeavor down the road from Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square. Attending the panel as candidates, the two women met with some of Egypt’s most high profile investors and litigators to prove they have what it takes to receive Endeavor’s legal counsel and funding resources.
In fielding difficult questions from panelists, the young women explained the basics of Eventtus.
The app is a service for events of any kind where users and organizers benefit from electronic facilitation of ticketing, RSVPs and communication. Event organizers may use Eventtus to post an agenda while attendees can smooth out the social kinks of networking by chatting with one another before meeting in-person.
“This app is about the experience,” Medhat said during their first session with prominent investors, adding that, “sure, there are plenty of apps out there that help organizers set events up and handle ticketing but we don’t see anyone focusing on the event itself.”
Mai and Nihal launched Eventtuss in June 2011 with their own financing. Their app has a repeat customer rate of 70% and engagement after first use rate of 76%. The app’s e-ticketing service is free (although Eventtus takes a commission) while subscriptions fees for full-on event management can vary between $250 and $850 dollars. Although the firm chalked up a modest first year in revenues, half of which were made during Q3 and Q4 – "high season" for events – both Medhat and Fares say they are happy with their numbers.
“We wanted to use this year to focus on perfecting the app and solidifying our Egypt market,” said Medhat.
Despite what may appear as a modest start, Eventtus has effectively fulfilled a market need in Egypt, received international credibility and is poised for global expansion. The firm was recently selected to be a part of Google’s BlackBox Connect Accelerator program in Silicon Valley, a two-week experience that provides it with many of the resources necessary to tap into the US market. The start-up has also solidified numerous high profile partnerships including multinational communications company Vodafone, Nokia and FedEx. Most recently Mercy Corps solicited the services of Eventtus for a week-long conference that hosted senior staff in in Abu Dhabi.
So with all this success and such a positive outlook, what brings Eventtus to Endeavor’s local selection panel?
“We’re at a point where we’ve locked down the Egyptian market and are ready to expand, but as an Egyptian company we have to deal with laws that are not very entrepreneur friendly,” said Fares, adding that. “we also want to use expanding to Dubai as a means of figuring out how to expand outside of the MENA region so we could use Endeavor’s legal and financial resources.”
Want to check Eventtus out yourself? Download the app for Android at the Google Play store or for your iPhone at Apple’s App store.