Summit at the Pyramids

At the end of November, Shotl and Swvl received an invitation to participate in a fireside chat at the RiseUp Summit, an emerging innovation and entrepreneurship conference in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). This meeting is held annually in Cairo, Egypt, and has grown in popularity since its launch in 2013 to become one of the region’s leading international events, with attendees from all over the world.

This year, RiseUp brought together more than 150 startups and speakers, and 50+ workshops over three days. Attendees from a range of backgrounds, passionate about mobility and smart cities alike, gathered to follow the various conferences, round tables, and talks that took place in a purpose-built event space in the world-famous Pyramids of Giza. The event could also be followed remotely using the hashtag #TimelessInnovation.

Shotl’s co-founder Gerard Martret traveled to Cairo to participate in the event following an invitation to speak from the organizers. Together with Mr. Khaled Elsayed Metwally, Swvl’s Senior Regional Sales Director for Africa, he discussed the mobility challenges both companies have encountered in their respective markets, as well as new challenges they face now both companies have joined forces.

Gerard commented on what it means for Shotl to join the Swvl family, and how he knew from the start that it was the best choice of the many available to the company. “Swvl and Shotl not only share a philosophy of progress and constant improvement of human values, they also complement each other perfectly to provide an end-to-end solution to today’s mobility challenges," he said. The Spanish entrepreneur was enthusiastic about the range of new scenarios now opening up, saying, “Swvl brings a breath of fresh air and a multitude of positive aspects to a highly-regulated market like Europe with their Transport-as-a-Service (TaaS) model. For its part, Shotl brings its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model to a growing number of emerging markets. With their combined TaaS and SaaS technologies, Swvl and Shotl solve an accessibility problem while offering a solid solution to other challenges such as sexual harassment on board vehicles, a problem Swvl has solved very satisfactorily.”

Gerard and Khaled also shared and discussed their vision for mobility in the coming years and, among other topics, the level of penetration autonomous vehicles will achieve in the short and medium term.