other entrepreneurial initiatives

I want to give mention to other initiatives supporting entrepreneurs in Lebanon:

1. American University of Beirut Olyan School of Business Entrepreneurship Center. This Center has received $5 million in start-up funding from the Al-Maktoum Foundation. Tony Feghali, PhD and Lecturer in Business Information, is the Director of Corporate Relations at the Business School and interim Director of the Entrepreneurship Center. He's energetic, pragmatic, and modest. He's the kind of guy that believes in what he is doing and isn't above working to get done whatever needs to get done. Tony is wary of all of the entrepreneurship competitions in the region. "I don't know if they are good or bad," he said. In Tony's opinion, there is so much buzz around these competitions but little focus on what institutional and policy change is needed to help these entrepreneurs succeed. I agree with him. I've seen lots of competitions but little discussion of policy. During the Spring semester, he hopes to have a gathering of all regional entities interested in promoting entrepreneurship to discuss these issues: venture funds, non-profits, government entities, and entrepreneurs. Tony also offered to be a regional advisor for my masters thesis and we're applying to analyze data and author a report for an organization that just conducted some exciting regional surveys on entrepreneurship. I hope we win the RFP bid. I'm looking forward to working with him.

AUB Main Gate at Night

2. The Rootspace (http://www.therootspace.org/). This non-profit supports entrepreneurship, innovation and social entrepreneurship in Lebanon. The organization organized Global Entrepreneurship Week events in Lebanon, provides an online collaborative space for entrepreneurs and provides consulting services to small businesses and NGOs. Its founder, David Munir Nabti, is also a graduate student at AUB. We have very similar regional interests and might work together on a project with Tony.

3. The Bader Young Entrepreneurs. I mentioned them in my last blog post. You can check them out here: http://www.baderlebanon.com/. I briefly met Bader's Director, Joelle Yazbeck, and plan to connect with her again.

4. Capital Trust - MENAVEST and EuroMena Funds. This European investment bank and investor has focused on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. They have three funds investing in growth-stage opportunities across the region and seek emerging market returns over the medium to long term. They particularly look for companies with the potential to scale from a single country market to a regional market, and they help them to realize this potential. Thus, their aim is to take already established entrepreneurs to the next level. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to meet with anyone from Capital Trust but am tyring to set up a conference call with them.

5. Manara Capital (http://www.manaracapital.com/). This is a family fund investing in the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. As a family fund, their mandate is very broad. They invest across geographies, industries and stages of companies, investing in both private and public entities. Thus, their aim isn't to support entrepreneurs per se. However, the guys managing the fund are smart investors and support of entrepreneurs is often a by-product of their activities. For example, as investors in Al Rifai Roastery, the leading provider of nuts in the Arab World, they are helping the Company expand globally.