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6/9/25, 9:21 AM UAE: Food rescue, drone tree planting startups win awards at Sustainable Impact Challenge | Khaleej Times
The second place in the competition went to online tutoring firm Thiqa Education’s 'One Dirham makes an impact' initiative. The firm donates Dh1
for every tutoring hour that is purchased from them to educational initiatives.
“In May we delivered more than 3,000 tutoring hours so we will donate more than Dh3,000,” said Hamdan Karmustaji, co-founder and CFO of the
company. “With this prize money, we are aiming to expand our impact to reach more people to create our pre-recorded lessons and sessions
platform that will reach the targeted audience. Our vision is to make education accessible to everyone and everyone.”
The third prize of Dh100,000 was won by Distant Imagery Solutions for their 'Rooted in Innovation’ project that has been transforming mangrove
planting in the UAE and internationally. With the prize money, the company is going to launch an initiative in Tonga. “They've had a lot of tsunamis
recently, and the areas behind the mangroves suffered the least because the mangroves really broke the surge,” said Cory Rhodes, co-founder of
the company. “We’re we're going to work with them to co-develop and design the tech to figure out exactly how we need to tweak it. Then we're
going to teach the communities how to build everything and maintain it and operate it and then leave them with all of the tools that they need so
that the project is sustainable in the long term.”
Ajman University received a special mention and Dh50,000 cash award for their project of getting students to plant mangrove trees. “We have had
over 1200 volunteers planting 3500 trees and 45 percent of our volunteers were below the age of 18,” said Maya Haddad, sustainability manager
at the university. “We get school children with us from schools that are underprivileged. Usually, they don't have access to inclusive, sustainable
education that is hands-on, and this is a great opportunity for them.”
ALSO READ:
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/environment/food-rescue-drone-tree-planting-startups-awards 3/3

