What inspired the team to create Elggo in the first place?
Mirna and I are both Lebanese. We grew up without any of this, no language for what we were feeling, no tools, no framework. Mental wellbeing wasn’t something that got named or addressed, it just got carried. At some point we both looked back and thought: these are the things worth learning, and kids in this region deserve access to them early. Elggo started from that.
At its core, what does sustainability mean to Elggo, and how does that shape your mission?
For us, sustainability isn’t a standalone concept, it’s about durability and long-term impact. Wellbeing support that fades when a programme ends isn’t truly sustainable. We’re focused on building solutions that are embedded within the systems children already move through, their schools, families, and language, so support is continuous, locally rooted, and able to endure over time.
How does Elggo balance cultural relevance and evidence-based practices when designing programs for diverse student populations across the MENA region?
We start with the science and then we localize hard. The scenarios have to resonate, the characters, the situations, the language. We also come to this as Arabs ourselves. Mental health in our communities lives in a very specific cultural context, there’s stigma, there’s collectivism, there’s religion, there’s family dynamics that don’t map onto Western frameworks. We don’t work around that, we design into it.
Why was it important for your team to focus on mental wellbeing as part of building a more sustainable future?
Because it’s not a soft topic, it’s a foundational skill. You cannot succeed in school, in work, in relationships, without some ability to understand and regulate what you’re feeling. We treat mental wellbeing the same way you’d treat literacy. It belongs in every child’s education, full stop.
What values guide your decisions when developing new features or programs for schools?
Privacy first, a child’s emotional data is not a product. And cultural honesty, we won’t ship something that feels foreign to the kids using it. We also listen obsessively. If something isn’t resonating, students tell us, directly or through how they use the platform, and we take that seriously.
How do you know Elggo is making a real difference for students and schools?
We go directly to the kids. Their feedback shapes everything, what scenarios feel real to them, what doesn’t land, what they actually want to talk about. When students tell us a session felt like it was made for them, that’s the signal we trust most.
How does the team stay motivated and inspired while working on such emotionally meaningful work in mental health and education?
Honestly, the work itself carries you. When you’re building something that you genuinely wish had existed for you growing up, the motivation isn’t hard to find. The harder thing is managing the weight of it. But we stay close to the users, and that keeps it grounded.
Can you share a small win or success story that reflects the impact Elggo is having today?
Journal usage. Kids are opening the app late at night and writing things in Arabic that they’ve never said out loud to anyone. That’s not a metric we chased, it’s just what happens when you build something that actually feels safe. That tells us everything.
How do you make sure your platform stays meaningful and relevant as students’ needs evolve?
We listen. That’s genuinely it. Student feedback is built into how we work, not as a quarterly review but as an ongoing loop. When something stops resonating, we find out fast, and we move.