Bader hosts Global Entrepreneurship Week

Startup Cup winners to be announced

The fourth Global Entrepreneurship Week, one of the largest events gathering innovators and job creators from over the world, will take in Lebanon on November 18-24. The event will be hosted by the Bader Young Entrepreneurs Program.

“This event engages enterprises, startups, and innovators on a national level,” said Fadi Bizri, Managing Director of the Bader Young Entrepreneurs Program. He said that they are working to involve schools and universities as well as entrepreneurs. “We believe everyone can be an entrepreneur.”

Bizri said they will announce the winners of their Startup Cup competition at the event. The Startup Cup encourages entrepreneurship, in collaboration with Bank Audi and with the approval of the US Kauffman Foundation, whose programs support young entrepreneurs worldwide.

Three winning teams will be selected after a coaching phase and final pitch in November. The Startup Cup’s prizes total more than $66,000, both cash and in-kind.

The MIT Enterprise Forum for the Pan Arab region will invite the grand prize winner to its next startups workshops. Berytech will host the three winning teams for free during a six-month acceleration period. The Lebanese Business Angels (LBA) will also choose to adopt or finance some projects.

Finalists include: Bestbankdeal.com, a one-stop shop for clients, banks, financial institutions, and all related supporting service providers; CtrlPath, a career mapping and consultation service; Moujaz, an online tool that summarizes web articles quickly; Pi Slice, a social platform for funding micro-finance institutions; Qi Juices, the first local provider of health-promoting fruit and vegetable juices; SerVme, a service aiming at modernizing the Middle Eastern food and beverage (F&B) industry; and Zima, an affordable software solution to internet service providers (ISPs).

Launched in 2008, the Global Entrepreneurship Week now includes 125 countries. Local partners include Berytech, Amideast Cisco, and the Fadel Foundation.