"Kactus" the 27th team to qualify for this years's MIT semi-finalist round

This story is provided by MIT Enterprise Forum - Pan-Arab Region.

Lebanese Kactus has been selected as one of the semi-finalists teams for this year’s MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab Region Startup Competition for the Ideas Track

Idea Inspiration

The idea came up when the Kactus team members were applying to the order of engineers and had a difficult time figuring out the steps to go through with the procedure and the documents required. Nadi Chemaly, Karim Chemaly, Bassam Seif and Leah Dunia are the entrepreneurs working on Kactus and they all have worked together on previous projects.

Karim and Nadi had already participated in the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition two years ago with a different project reaching the semi-finals and attending an "amazing" two-day workshop in Beirut and had the opportunity to meet entrepreneurs from all over the MENA region. With Bassem and Leah joining the team they also managed to reach the finals of the GIST competition in Dubai and are now ready to take Kactus to the next level and help it gain inter nation recognition.

The Concept

Kactus is a mobile application that allows users to achieve their goals by providing them with a list of steps that they can integrate with their calendars. The content and functionalities of the app are not limited; however they range from official and university formalities to emergency procedures, sport schedules and even going through cooking recipes step by step. It is built around the first task list marketplace ever and will break down any complex procedure into simple, comprehensible, and easy to handle steps allowing users to be more efficient in their daily lives. What separates Kactus from other To-Do applications is that it already has the steps saved while in regulars apps, users usually fill out steps and insert tasks themselves. This does not solve the problem in hand as the main issue is the lack of information about the procedures and their requirements. Kactus will aim to improve the quality of life of its users as it helps them get rid of the hurdles of completing complicated tasks and going through bureaucratic procedures easily. The next step will be to engage the users and allow them to actively take part of the Kactus community by sharing information.

Advice to Entrepreneurs

The Kactus team remarks that nothing goes as planned, "especially for entrepreneurs". It takes resilience to spend many days working hard without seeing the expected results. Entrepreneurs should possess the ability to remain flexible and "learn how to pivot while keeping the main objective in vision". Being an entrepreneur, according to the team, allows going through an enriching experience on the personal level as it will take you a lot to get where you want, but eventually you will get to look back and be proud of the road you "carved for yourself”.

Find out more about Kactus by

Downloading their app: here

Liking their Facebook page: facebook.com/kactusapp

Following them on Twitter: @KactusApp

Checking their video: here