Leedana is bringing agriculture to the desert--and it got its start at Desautels

Egypt’s Nile River Valley has some of the most fertile land in the world. But most of the country is a barren desert where few plants can grow. Hassan Elrakhawy (BCom’24) wants to change that. The Egyptian-born entrepreneur founded Leedana, a startup that uses a technique called sandponics, which can reduce the amount of water needed to cultivate crops by up to 90%. The company already has farms in Egypt that grow cherry tomatoes, peppers, kale, lettuce and more. And other farms are under construction elsewhere. Elrakhawy credits mentorship from McGill’s Dobson Centre for entrepreneurship with getting Leedana off the ground--and sees participation in the Dobson Cup startup competition as a milestone for the business. “When I finally got in, I was super happy. After three years of operations, including pilot projects in Montreal and Egypt, people were finally considering us as a clean-tech startup.”