YSIC | Chapter 1: Egypt

The Egypt chapter of the Youth Sustainability Innovation Contest (YSIC) is designed to empower youth across the country to develop creative solutions to environmental challenges within their own communities. This initiative focuses on ideas shaped by Egypt’s unique environment, culture, and everyday realities, giving students the opportunity to turn local problems into meaningful, real-world solutions.

Across Egypt, young people are already identifying issues such as waste, pollution, and resource use in their communities. However, many of these ideas remain unseen or unsupported. This contest provides a platform to bring those ideas forward, offering students the chance to share their innovations, gain recognition, and contribute to a growing movement of youth-led sustainability.

This initiative is inspired by youth who are already making an impact by rethinking everyday materials and challenges. By encouraging similar creativity, the contest highlights how simple observations can lead to practical and sustainable solutions. The goal is to support ideas that are not only innovative, but also relevant and applicable within local communities.

Who Can Participate

The YSIC is open to youth up to 24 years of age across Egypt. Participants can join individually or as part of a team, and projects can be submitted at any stage, from early designs to working prototypes. What matters most is a clear focus on sustainability, creativity, and solving a real environmental problem.

Meet the Youth Champion

This chapter is inspired by youth innovator, Amin Marei, founder of BounceBack, who identified everyday waste in his community and transformed it into a sustainable product. His work reflects the kind of creativity and impact this contest aims to support and scale across Egypt.

Amin is a high school student and nationally ranked junior tennis player based in Cairo, Egypt. Through his experience as a competitive athlete, he became aware of how many tennis balls are thrown away each year, which led him to start BounceBack (@thebounceback.project), a project that repurposes used tennis balls into functional furniture while raising awareness about sports-related waste. Through BounceBack, Amin combines athletics, design, and environmental education to show how small ideas can make a difference. He is interested in studying economics, business, and sustainability. Amin is especially interested in how sports can help promote environmental responsibility and hopes to continue growing BounceBack in the future.

Read his story here: Designing With Tennis Balls: When a Perfect Material Becomes a Problem | The BounceBack Project

What You Can Win

Participants in the Youth Sustainability Innovation Contest – Egypt will have the opportunity to gain recognition for their ideas and be rewarded for their creativity and impact. The top three winners will each receive a custom BounceBack design, selected from the options featured in the contest poster.

In addition to the top prizes, all participants who achieve a score of at least 50% based on the evaluation criteria will be recognized for their efforts. These participants will be featured in an article on EnvironBuzz Magazine and highlighted across our platforms, giving their work visibility and acknowledgment within a wider community.

All contestants who complete the submission process will also receive a certificate of completion, recognizing their participation and commitment to sustainability and innovation.

Stay Connected

• Join the WhatsApp community
• Follow updates on EnvironBuzz & partner platforms
• Be part of a growing movement of youth innovators