Televised competition for business ideas

Ideaz Prize to give winner $10,000 in seed capital, $5,000 for second place

The Ideaz Prize, a televised national competition to encourage entrepreneurship amongst young Lebanese, was launched Wednesday (May 16). The eight-episode show will be broadcast on local channel ‘MTV’.

The competition targets individuals between 16 and 30 years old with a viable business idea.

Ideas will be screened by the panel of judges who are themselves successful local entrepreneurs. The judges include: Henri Chalhoub, CEO of UFA, Donald Battal, CEO, Made in Beirut, Mario Haddad, CEO, Hands on Lebanon, Maher Mezher, head of marketing FNB, and Christine Sfeir, CEO, Dunkin Donuts and SemSom.

Winner of the first prize will receive $10,000 in cash as seed capital. The winning idea will also receive free official registration, the services of a lawyer and an accountant for a year, one year of one-on-one mentoring, and the services of a business manager for four months.

The winner of the second prize, chosen by a panel of experts, will receive $5,000 in cash in addition to business mentoring.

Ideas can be submitted through the event website at www.ideazprize.com. The deadline is June 30.

Reported by Rana Freifer