Critical to successful change in Mena will be the measure of how governments collaborate with and learn from each other to foster an environment where the region's promising startup scene can become a thriving one with global impact.

After selling his first company, leading Hellofood's expansion into five Mena countries and mentoring over 35 startups as part of 1776, Tarek Ghobar is now on to his newest venture, PointCheckout. In our conversation with him, he shares his advice to entrepreneurs.

Today, there's a significant gap in the production and export of research and innovation from the Middle East. How can Mena set its own trends through the empowerment of R&D?

Marj3 is one of the region's largest databases of scholarships available to students. Today, it boasts 2.5M visitors/month and has helped more than 70,000 students access education in both Egypt and abroad.