Some people are never satisfied. They react to success or failure by doing more, creating more, emptying their bag of ideas and refilling it over and over again.
Egyptian Amr Sobhy is a die-hard innovator; he just never stops! Born in 1988, the young man’s initial claim to fame was the co-creation of the MorsiMeter website; a digital initiative and online platform to document and monitor the performance of the past Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi.
Modelled after the Obameter – created by PolitiFact.com, which tracks U.S. President Barack Obama’s promises- the MorsiMeter was the first of its kind in Egypt and the Middle East to hold a president accountable for his promises. Thinking Jonameter in Nigeria? I am!
As part of Zabatak, a non-profit group whose goal was to fight crime and corruption, Amr Sobhy and his team created a social crowd-sourcing platform called Zabatak. Their modus operandi was to collate crime reports from citizens across Cairo, Egypt and convert them into meaningful information by mapping criminal activity and sharing important information in the fight against corruption and crime.
The young set of thinkers birthed this idea at the time of the Egyptian revolution which saw an increase in crime rates and felonious activity. Evidence in favour of adversity birthing creativity seems to abound, doesn’t it?
The Zabatak site describes it as, “A new way to monitor and locate the spread of crime and corruption in Egypt using the Internet and mobile technology and work on scale and eliminate them by educating citizens and cooperation with civil society and the competent authorities.” Not to encourage copy-catting but shouldn’t someone be working on something this pertinent in other parts of Africa?
Amr Sobhy is working on yet another idea…the idea of Gazar; “Gazar will turn your calendar into your very own personal assistant. Just sit back and relax as Gazar does it all for you. It will coordinate meetings for you, check your availability, respond to whoever invited you, book meetings and mark it on your calendar! It’s mind-blowing.”
I did mention that he never stops didn’t I?
Ah, yes! PushBots is also underway as Amr Sobhy and his team present the future of Mobile Messaging. Check out pushbots.com for the scoop!
Amr is a graduate of Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Tanta, and if you think it’s a little odd for him to be so engrossed with Social Entrepreneurship and Tech Startups, then wait for this: he is a published poet and author!
Amr Sobhy is a graduate of Singularity University, a very selective program at NASA Ames Research Centre whose aim is to bring together a roundtable of leaders, pioneers and visionaries in technology to solve the myriad problems of the human species by utilizing and understanding the unfathomable limits of technology. His latest project aims to revolutionize oral health- by putting good old toothbrushes six feet under!
With several awards like the 2007 and 2008 Mtandao Afrika Platinum Award, the 2011 African Leadership Academy and MasterCard Foundation Anzisha Prize, the World Youth Summit Award in 2012, Amr Sobhy’s sheer persistence in committing to making an impact has been duly recognised and lauded.
His literary publications include: Zatul Redaa’ al-Kormozeyy (The Lady in Scarlet – ذات الرداء القرمزي, 2012, Poetry), Yawmyat Kahl Sagheer al-Sen (Diary of a Timeworn Lad – يوميات كهل صغير السن, 2011, Prose) and Addahshatul Ola (The First Marvel – الدهشة الأولى, 2008, Poetry).
Perhaps we need a SobhyMeter to keep track of all of this!
You know the reason I have expended my energies to get this information to you? So that you can start now; there is no age barrier to achieving greatness or making a difference in your communities. Now you know.
Learn. Think. Act. Repeat!
[…] Gathitu, Gbenga Sesan, Joshua Ihejiamaizu, Bright Simmons, Amr Sohby and others are just a few of the Techpreneurs who are taking over the African creative landscape […]