Lamia Kamel, Founder, and Managing Director of CC Plus and Founder of Narrative PR Summit was NileFM's guest on "The Big Drive", and she told us all about the Storytellers Awards.&nbsp;
Can you tell us more about the Storytellers Award and what inspired its creation?
The Storytellers Award was inspired by our long-standing partnership with media platforms like NileFM and NogoumFM, which have supported us since the launch of the Narrative Summit in 2016. The Narrative Summit is a nation-branding platform aimed at positioning Egypt differently on the global stage.
Over the past eight years, we've brought together leaders from politics, business, government, and the arts to discuss ways to enhance Egypt's global image&mdash;through increasing tourism, foreign direct investments (FDIs), and promoting industries like fashion and art.
This year, we wanted to take a different approach by including young Gen Z storytellers. These young individuals often feel disconnected from the national narrative, and we wanted to create a platform for them to participate. The award was designed to encourage their involvement and help them become part of Egypt's story. The response has been incredible, and we've assembled a diverse and distinguished jury to ensure fairness and inclusivity.
Who are the jury for the award?
The jury includes prominent figures from various fields of storytelling. Tarek Nour, a renowned advertising guru and chairman of United Media Services, leads the jury. Other members include:
Tarek El Ganainy, producer of the movie Al-Harifa, Amy Mowafi, beloved media personality,&nbsp;Ahmed Wahba, photographer and director, &nbsp;Kareem Abou Gamrah, founder of&nbsp;Peace Cake, and Ahmed Ebied, brand management expert.
We intentionally selected a diverse jury to cover multiple storytelling disciplines and perspectives.
Who is eligible for the award, and what kind of content is recognized?
The award is aimed at young content creators under the age of 40. We kept the categories simple and inclusive to encourage participation. The five categories are:
Long Film: Videos up to five minutes. Short Film: Videos of one minute or less. Pictures: A carousel of static photos. Speak to the Camera: A short video (under one minute) where participants talk, share a joke or tell a story that represents how they see Egypt. Multimedia: Creative content using various media formats.
From each category, we will select three finalists, making a total of 15 finalists. Ultimately, five winners will be chosen from these finalists.
How does the Storytellers Awards contribute to nation branding?
Storytelling is fundamental to shaping a nation's image and identity. Egyptians have a rich history of storytelling, dating back to the Pharaohs, who documented their lives and beliefs on temple walls. In modern times, Egypt thrived in the 1950s and 60s through media, literature, and the arts, cementing its place as a cultural hub.
The younger generation, with access to technology and global connections, has the potential to continue this legacy. Storytelling helps document, connect, and inspire, creating a legacy that highlights the country's strengths and unique attributes. The award aims to bridge the gap between Egypt's heritage and how the youth perceive and represent it today.
What do the finalists and winners gain from the award?
All 15 finalists will be invited to the Narrative Summit, giving them the opportunity to connect with industry leaders and participate in discussions about Egypt&rsquo;s future. The five winners will receive special recognition and awards.
This initiative is about giving young storytellers a voice, inspiring them to showcase the positive aspects of their country, and encouraging them to contribute to its story through their creativity.
Will this be a recurring initiative?
Yes, the Storytellers Awards will be an annual event, evolving each year to remain relevant and impactful. We hope it becomes a recognized brand of its own, inspiring young people to express their perspectives and continue Egypt&rsquo;s storytelling legacy.
Any final thoughts on the importance of storytelling?
Storytelling is a powerful tool to preserve culture, connect generations, and inspire pride. By engaging young people, we hope to ensure that Egypt's rich history and vibrant future are communicated compellingly to both local and global audiences. Through their stories, we can showcase why Egypt is a nation worth exploring, admiring, and cherishing.

Lamia Kamel, Founder, And Managing Director Of CC Plus And Founder Of Narrative PR Summit On The Storytellers Awards

Ms. Yosr Gado, Head of Non-Formal Education Programmes - British Council Egypt was NileFM's guest on "The Big Breakfast" with Rob and Nadine, and she told us all about&nbsp;the importance of Non-Formal Education and how the British Council in Egypt is fostering leadership, inclusion, and social responsibility among young people, while also addressing the needs of underrepresented groups such as women and people with disabilities.
What do Non-Formal Education Programmes mean?&nbsp;
Non-Formal Education as the name implies, is something that is not in the classroom or the university. It's the subtle way of providing young people with skills needed for their lives, to thrive within their communities and their societies.
Youth are often at the forefront of societal change, how does the British Council in Egypt connect with and inspire young people to take action or participate in Non-Formal Education&nbsp;Programmes?
The youth represent around 60 percent of our population, so our mission as The British Council is to empower Egyptian youth and equip them with the right transferable skills to thrive within their societies, and to lead the positive change they want to see within their communities.
We work across different sectors, education, non-formal education, creative economy, arts, and English, so we have a diverse offer that can support young people in their societies to thrive and meet global challenges.
Could you give us an example of one of the projects that you've been&nbsp;working on recently?
We have for example a programme for Non-Formal Education called "Youth Connect" and it's a global programme but we have our tailored version here in Egypt, where we implemented it with&nbsp;Civil society actors, we work with communities&nbsp;governmental sectors, we partner with officials partners such as the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Inclusion is a key value for many organizations today, how does your work under Non-Formal Education ensure that inclusion, especially of women, people with disabilities, or other underrepresented groups?
We try to practice what we preach, we adapt our cultural relations approach to building understanding and trust between different stakeholders within any community we work with.
Our approach or the way we work is built around community engagement, and support the young leaders in their community-identified issues, so&nbsp;not working in silos and working collaboratively within our communities is our main target.&nbsp;
What are the strategies or partnerships that the British Council has taken to&nbsp;empower women through its work under Non-Formal Education?
At the British Council empowering women is mandatory in all our programmes.
We do this by planning for this before we work, all our outputs and objectives are both gender and inclusive, and we study carefully how the impact of our work is going to have on our societies specifically people with disabilities and women.&nbsp;
The solutions that come from young leaders are usually inclusive as well, it doesn't have to be something that focuses on women, but whatever we are implementing we need to consider how this will affect different and diverse people, specifically women and people with disabilities.
We allocate different resources even within the implementation, we provide technical support to young people to ensure that they tackle the issues sensitively And professionally when it comes to women and people with disabilities.
Can you share some examples of the initiatives or success stories where youth have played a leading role?
Whatever we're doing we are promoting social leadership which indicates that the youth adopting both social responsibility and intercultural dialogue, to do the things that they are doing with understanding and triangulating the relationship between their community and their action&nbsp;and their issues.&nbsp;
We have several examples where young leaders work with marginalized communities with illiterate women, for example, work on waste management, or produce products that can be&nbsp;resold again, which gives them skills in other fields so they can continue with their lives.&nbsp;
How is it possible to join the programmes that you do?&nbsp;
We have different approaches one of them is an open call where people are encouraged to participate, and we don't have standards, it's non-academic, so if you want to contribute to positive change within your community, please join us.&nbsp;
Also, we make sure that you are&nbsp;committed to the journey because it's not a workshop that will take four days and off you go, you have all the skills you need. It's like a complete journey. It could take up to two years.&nbsp;
We take some skills in a course structure, like how to do intercultural dialogue, we organize intercultural dialogue events, and we open the pathway for the young people to implement the acquired skills.&nbsp;
How does the British Council address the needs of people with disabilities and&nbsp;Ensure that they are active participants in our initiatives?
When we talk about people with disabilities, we are not talking about part of the community in silos, we are talking about a cohesive community so we don't address them separately.
This is what we are going to do with people with disability, make sure that they are part of whatever we're doing and we are going to adjust whatever we're doing to meet their needs.

Ms. Yosr Gado, Head Of Non-Formal Education Programmes - British Council Egypt On Youth Empowerment And Driving Social Change

Ms. Yosr Gado, Head of Non-Formal Education Programmes - British Council Egypt will be NileFM's guest on "The Big Breakfast" with Rob and Nadine&nbsp;on Wednesday the 11th of December from 7 to 10 am.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The British Council's Non-Formal Education (NFE) programmes are all about creating positive pathways and opportunities for young people outside of formal learning spaces, By connecting young people and enabling them to work across cultural differences, as well as acting positively on the big global challenges that affect their lives and communities.

Ms. Yosr Gado, Head Of Non-Formal Education Programmes - British Council Egypt Will Be NileFM's Guest On "The Big Breakfast"

Seifeldin Fawzy, Co-Founder &amp; COO Of The TriFactory was NileFM's Guest On "The Big Drive" with Zeinab and Sami and he told us all about the upcoming&nbsp;Pyramids Half Marathon.&nbsp;
Can you give us an introduction about yourself and what The TriFactory is all about?
I&rsquo;m the co-founder of The TriFactory, and for those who don&rsquo;t know, The Tri Factory is Egypt&rsquo;s leading organizer of endurance sports events and mass participation sports events.
The sports events world is split into two, events that you watch, like if you go to a football match or a basketball match, and events that you take part in, which is what we do. Like the races, the triathlons, and the running events, including the Pyramids Half Marathon.&nbsp;
Your biggest annual event is the Pyramids Half Marathon, can you tell us more about that?
this is something we&rsquo;ve been building for years now, since 2019. It actually started as the Pyramids Marathon&mdash;a full marathon, 42 kilometers.&nbsp;
And then we brought it down to a half marathon. I think that was a huge step in its advancement. It really kicked off after we did that in 2020. We were a little bit unlucky, of course. The second edition was in February 2020, and then COVID hit.&nbsp;The event took a bit of a hit, but it has rebounded really strongly.
We are building something fantastic a race at the Great Pyramids of Giza. There are three different distances: 21K, 10K, or 5K. This year, we have a record number of participants six and a half thousand.
When you had the dream of this particular marathon how did you turn it into a reality?
I have to give credit to our partner, Mahmoud Abdel-Hakim, because he dreamt up this&nbsp;idea. He pushed us all to do it.&nbsp;
From day one,&nbsp;the idea was to have a global-level event at the Pyramids, and when we had that dream,&nbsp;we started off with a marathon, and then we brought it down to a half marathon.
What that has done is that it made this race accessible. It made this race something that's&nbsp;on the global calendar now, and it made it something that has the potential to grow into&nbsp;the future as, you know, a major half marathon in the world, one of the biggest and one of&nbsp;the best.&nbsp;
We had a vision&nbsp;for it at the beginning. What we have today correlates with that vision, and it's moving&nbsp;in the right trajectory. As I said, a record number of participants this year, a record&nbsp;number of nationalities as well taking part.&nbsp;
What we're seeing is that more and more&nbsp;people from across the world are asking about this race. "How can we come? How can we take&nbsp;part?" And more and more people right here in Egypt are taking part. And that just gives&nbsp;us so much encouragement that we're on the right path.&nbsp;
You mentioned there are over 6,000 participants. We wanted to know&nbsp;how many nationalities are participating this year?&nbsp;
More than 80.&nbsp;which is really impressive, honestly, because it really shows how multicultural this race is.&nbsp;&nbsp;
We're very proud, I mean, the number one nationality by far is Egypt, and we see&nbsp;so many of the best Egyptian runners take part in this race of all ages and abilities.
We have runners as old as 80, and we also have runners that are as young as eight years&nbsp;old. So we have everyone across the board.
We have runners who have never&nbsp;taken part in a race ever, and this is their first race and they come and they do something&nbsp;that they've never done before, and we have people who don't miss a race and they don't&nbsp;miss the Pyramids Half Marathon. The idea is that we bring everyone together in a&nbsp;very family-friendly and very positive environment.
Yes, that competitive&nbsp;element is there. Yes, the Pyramids Half Marathon is certified by AIMS, which is the&nbsp;Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, which is a really big deal.&nbsp;
So, yes, it has that competitive element, everyone is timed, and you get a timing chip&nbsp;on your race number that gives you your exact time down to the millisecond, but the other element that's there is that we have the three distances.&nbsp;
Someone&nbsp;who's kind of a bit more advanced can take part, someone who's less advanced can take part, and people&nbsp;can take part together. We have a lot of corporate companies that come together.
Can you tell us about your role during the marathon?
I hold the mic and I cheer everyone on, which is a really&nbsp;special part of the job because it's really great to see the emotions on people's faces.
Either first-timers or veteran runners or whatever their story might&nbsp;be, and everyone kind of gets a very special finish line moment.
I mean, they have that sense of achievement, and then they earn their medals.
At the awards ceremony, I kind of cheer every single person on and recognize their achievements, because it's hard to win a race like this, the amount of training and the sacrifice you make, I can only imagine.&nbsp;
You don't win just by training for a race like this, and you deserve a special&nbsp;cheer at the finish line.&nbsp;
This year marks the sixth edition of the marathon. How does this one differ from the previous ones?&nbsp;
Well, in the world of marathons, what you're trying to do is we're trying to kind&nbsp;of build on the success of each one.&nbsp;
It's not a brand-new thing where you're&nbsp;coming up with something completely different. So we're building on the success of the previous&nbsp;editions. This one has grown almost 50 percent in size, so people can expect a much bigger scale.&nbsp;
For the first time, every single runner will have their name on their&nbsp;running bib, which again goes back to cheering people on and having that&nbsp;feeling of personalization.&nbsp;We have a major partnership with Puma and we have major athletes coming from abroad.
What makes the Pyramids half marathon special compared to other marathons?
The Pyramids and I know that this sounds very obvious.&nbsp;
We see the Pyramids maybe every day here in Egypt and so on, but we have&nbsp;thousands of runners from abroad, and for them, seeing the Great Pyramids of Giza, the last remaining&nbsp;ancient wonder of the world is an insane experience.&nbsp;
This is something that's legit, and not only to see them but to run around them&nbsp;and to experience them in that way, completely pedestrianized roads,&nbsp;no cars on the road.&nbsp;
I'm just trying to think, if I'm someone who's not from Egypt&nbsp;and I'm coming to Egypt specifically to run through history,&nbsp;that in itself is a life-changing experience, I can see someone kind of like running and thinking&nbsp;how many people previous to this, thousands and thousands of years ago&nbsp;were in the same place that I am at this moment.&nbsp;
Even if you are not from abroad and you are Egyptian,&nbsp;that is still an experience that you're not going to get every day.&nbsp;You're going to be running somewhere that very few people&nbsp;have gotten the opportunity to run in before, and you're going to get a view of the pyramids that you don't get&nbsp;as a normal visitor.&nbsp;You're going to be surrounded and supported by 6,000 other people&nbsp;on the exact same journey as you.&nbsp;
What kind of feedback have you had from participants over the years? And how do they describe their experience?
We have around 80 runners who haven't missed an event.&nbsp;They haven't missed a Pyramids Half Marathon.
They haven't missed the Pyramids Half Marathon since 2019.&nbsp;So those guys are super, super special.&nbsp;
We're doing something special for them this year as well, and we have, a couple hundred&nbsp;who have done four out of the five past editions.&nbsp;So they've just missed one for whatever reason.&nbsp;
So we have a lot of regulars and the feedback from them,&nbsp;obviously, is great and it's very constructive&nbsp;because these are our hardcore kind of runners&nbsp;who are great supporters of what we do,&nbsp;but will also give us constructive feedback
And we're always very receptive to hearing what people are saying, and at the same time, the feedback that we're getting&nbsp;from people who have come in from abroad&nbsp;and it's the first time they experienced the Pyramids in this way,&nbsp;that's super special, it keeps us wanting to make this race bigger every single year.&nbsp;
The Pyramids Half Marathon is part of the Race Through History series.&nbsp;What does that mean exactly?
At the very beginning,&nbsp;the Pyramids Half Marathon was just the Pyramids Half Marathon, and Race Through History was the slogan.&nbsp;
But with time, that has really grown and developed&nbsp;into a kind of something much bigger, and we now have another race that's underneath that same umbrella, which is the Saqqara Pyramid race, and that takes place on the 21st of February.&nbsp;
what we're trying to do is to really showcase Egypt's amazing historical monuments&nbsp;and cultural heritage in a positive way through sports&nbsp;and specifically through running, and the Race Through History series is what that is.
With time and in the years to come,&nbsp;we hope to add more and more races under that slogan&nbsp;and build it into a complete series all year long, not just two races per year.&nbsp;
How can people participate in the&nbsp;Pyramids Half Marathon?
It is officially sold out, and the reason is that we have a record number of participants, like I said,&nbsp;and we've gotten everything prepared for them,&nbsp;the race numbers with their timing chips,&nbsp;the t-shirts, special race t-shirts that have come in from abroad.&nbsp;And it's a whole thing to get all of the packs prepared in advance.&nbsp;
Is there a way for people to just come as spectators?&nbsp;
Yes.&nbsp;Spectator tickets are open and anyone can get them on <a href="https://www.thetrifactory.com/">thetrifactory.com</a>,&nbsp;which is our website.&nbsp;And we really encourage spectators to come,&nbsp;friends and family and even anyone who just wants to have a good time.&nbsp;
We have lots of F&amp;B vendors, awesome food and coffee, and everything.&nbsp;
It's an awesome morning at the pyramids, the last remaining wonder of the ancient world.
&nbsp;
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Seifeldin Fawzy, Co-Founder & COO Of The TriFactory On Revolutionizing Sports Events & The Global Appeal Of The Pyramids Half Marathon

Kaltham Mohammad Salem Bashait Alshamsi, Assistant Manager, Retail Festivals &amp; Events, Dubai Economy and Tourism was NileFM's guest on "The Big Breakfast" with Rob and Nadine and she shared with us&nbsp;exciting insights about the upcoming 30th edition of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF).
We are all excited for the 30th edition of the Dubai Shopping Festival. What should listeners expect this year from the world&rsquo;s longest-running retail festival?
We're actually quite excited and busy this weekend as we're launching the 30th edition of the Dubai Shopping Festival, which starts on the 6th of December and will run till the 12th of January.&nbsp;
People who had the chance to book this weekend, have almost six weekends to come and join us.&nbsp;
Can you give us more details on the new and exciting additions to the Dubai Shopping Festival?
Starting a festival in Dubai is very challenging because there's always something new happening during the year, however, DSF is one special festival.&nbsp;
In regards to the new elements, we're adding this year the DSF Nights at Dubai Festival City Mall, for those who love concerts.&nbsp;
We have 7 concerts, every weekend throughout the festival, we also have X-Factor, which is a new addition this year, in partnership with Dubai Stadium, so it's a nice opportunity to catch the artists performing at Dubai Festival City Mall, every Sunday from the 8th of December till the 12th of January.&nbsp;
And for those who would like to have some kind of a different experience in the desert, we have for the first time ever, The Uncommon, which is a desert camp at&nbsp;Al Marmoom, and it will take place from the 20th of December till the 12th of January.&nbsp;
Also, one more exciting event that's happening in the desert is&nbsp;Hatta, launching on the 6th of December, and it's about enjoying the amazing nature of Hatta.&nbsp;
Apart from the Dubai Shopping Festival, what can we look forward to when we visit Dubai during the winter season?
Dubai is known for its amazing winter season, we have the festive season, so the city will transform into a holiday paradise, there are so many festive markets happening at Jumeirah, we have El Habtoor City Winter Garden, and we have&nbsp;Expo Winter City, in addition to the amazing fireworks during the new year's in Dubai.&nbsp;
For our listeners who are planning to spend their holiday in Dubai during the winter season, how we can get more information?&nbsp;
In order to plan your visit properly, I highly recommend going to <a href="visitdubai.com">VisitDubai.com</a>&nbsp;to learn more about the different winter offers, you can also check the Dubai calendar, and if you want to get a quick glimpse at what's happening you can go to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/visit.dubai/?hl=en">Visit Dubai on Instagram.&nbsp;</a>
What is the one thing that you're looking forward to the most during DSF?&nbsp;
One of the major events that we have is the drone show.
We have a show every night at 8 pm and 10 pm, and what makes this very special is that we have 1000 drones flying every single night, in addition to PyroDrones and skydivers. So that's something to really look forward to.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Kaltham Mohammad Salem Bashait Alshamsi, Assistant Manager, Retail Festivals & Events, Dubai Economy And Tourism On The Exciting Highlights Of The 30th Dubai Shopping Festival

Seifeldin Fawzy, co-founder and COO of The TriFactory will be Nile FM's guest with Zeinab and Sami on Thursday the 5th of December from 5 to 7 pm.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The TriFactory is Egypt's leading participation sports event management company, working with major partners to organize events across Egypt since 2015, across 8 different governorates, dozens of premium destinations, and tens of thousands of participants.
The TriFactory organizes major races such as the Pyramids Half Marathon, El Gouna Half Marathon, Madinaty Half Marathon, Somabay Endurance Festival, Tough Mudder Egypt, Saqqara Pyramid Race, Trailmaster Wadi Degla, Solasi Wellbeing Festival, and many more.
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