entrepreneur

Within the framework of the 2013 international business entrepreneurship, and in line with the mission of Endeavour aiming to develop business entrepreneurship among younger generation, Endeavour organised during last month at AUB, two seminars the first on 18 and the second on 28 November.  The aim of these 2 events was to raise the awareness and expand the horizons of students interested in business entrepreneurship and assist them in understanding the business and economy system of Lebanon.
The seminars kicked off with lectures by four business entrepreneurs from Endeavour and who are highly influential in Lebanon namely Elie Habib, the founder of Anghami music app for smart phones, Brahms Chouity, the founder of At7addak.com the Arab World's biggest gaming website, Jad Khour the founder of Printworks, and Marc Dfouni the Co-founder of Eastline Marketing for e-commerce.  Speakers introduced their businesses and shared their journey in developing their enterprise until it became successful.
This was followed by a discussion session, during which entrepreneurs shared their experiences with students highlighting their challenges as well as available solutions and advanced technology, then followed by a cocktail party during which students had a chance to have some side discussions with entrepreneurs and seek their advice and guidance.
On this occasion, the administration director of Endeavour in Lebanon Tarek Saadi reiterated the commitment of Endeavour to strengthening relation with universities and so as to link individuals with talents and skills and facilitate knowledge exchange.  He added that similar activities will be organised in the future in collaboration with the other Lebanese universities.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 18 December 2013

Statistics released by the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD indicate that only 20% of companies in the Middle East and North Africa region are run by women compared to 32% in OECD countries of Europe.  These statistics were released during the OECD-MENA Women's Business Forum on nurturing entrepreneurship and improving women's access to services and financing, which was organised by MENA-OECD Investment Programme in Rabat early this month.  The event aimed at reviewing mechanisms that would potentially strengthen women’s economic role in the region as well as assess the experience of women entrepreneur and their role in economic development.  The forum also sought to identify the optimal means to address obstacles facing women entrepreneurs in accessing financing as well as services offered by various support initiatives and identify the action plan of the Forum in 2014.
The seminar extended over two days during which participants discussed various subjects such as the role of ICTs in developing women entrepreneurship, women entrepreneur's access to support services, the participation of women in the private and public sectors as well as other related subjects.
The President of the Forum, Birgitta Holst Alani noted that the organisation of this event coincides with the unprecedented transformation in the MENA region and should lead into the creation of larger economic opportunities for women.  Alani also noted that although women in the region are both intelligent and active, yet this is not reflected in local economies as only 24% of MENA women are active in the economy compared to an average of 51% in other small and middle income countries of the world.
Source: Al-Diyar 9 December 2013

Three emerging youth companies, Lebtivity, Sociatag and Etobb, succeeded in representing Lebanon at the web summit in Dublin, which is an annual event that brings together tens of thousands of young business entrepreneurs from around the world most of whom are in fact youth entrepreneurs with age ranging between 20 to 33 years.
L’Orient le Jour interviewed Randa Farah, the founder of Lebtivity who introduced the work scope of her website which monitors Lebanese cultural, artistic, and sports activities and which has attracted the interests of many of the participants in the summit especially since it portrays positive images of Lebanon.  Farah added that the website was funded by the founders themselves who are now working on marketing the idea to other countries.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour 12 December 2013

The Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD) organised in collaboration with the DPNA a meeting that was held last week at the premises of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in order to discuss progress in implementing the program entitled: Entrepreneurship education towards a pioneering society in Lebanon.  The event was attended by a number of business people and sought to brief economic decision makers on the phases completed by this programme so far with the aim of securing their support and bring them into the Coalition currently being set up and which is expected to become a major incubator for business enterprises in Lebanon.  The Coalition thus far includes the Ministry of Higher Education, a number of other Ministries, international organisations, and economic institutions as well as civil society organisations.  The meeting also sought to harvest views and insights of attendees into the drawing of a national strategy to support business enterprises and of broad policies that would support such a direction.  CERD’s Director, Leila Mali7ha Fayyad, noted that CERD is currently taking steps towards introducing the concept of entrepreneurship in the educational and technical curricula in a gradual fashion.  The concept has now been mainstreamed with other subjects and with planned co-academic activities.  Fayyad noted that Lebanon has become a pioneer internationally in addressing the concept in this way through the initiative of CERD.
Source: Al-Diyar 9 December 2013

Bayt.com conducted, in collaboration with YouGov for research and consultation, an opinion poll on business entrepreneurship in the Middle East region.  The results revealed that half of the Lebanese population prefers to work for the private sector, in addition to their own businesses, that 77% of the Lebanese indicated that they prefer to work in the private sector against 33% who prefer the public sector.  Furthermore, the opinion poll showed that 44% look forward to engage in personal business initiatives.  To be noted that the questionnaires were disseminated and completed online between 2 and 15 September with 8776 responses received from the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.
The poll also revealed that 64% of Lebanese business people chose to go into business entrepreneurship for self fulfillment and 55% in order to secure greater income.  According to the poll, 49% of those surveyed and who are now working in the private or public sector, are also looking forward to set up their own businesses, whilst 17% of those who set up their own businesses have actually failed.  Within the same vain, 73% of business entrepreneurs in Lebanon considered the unstable political situation in the country as the main challenge for starting a new business, whilst 60% considered that the main hurdle is the country’s economic instability.
Source: Le’Orient Le Jour 12 November 2013