The Central Bank of Lebanon in collaboration with "L’Ecole Supérieure des Affaires" (ESA) organized a two-day workshop to promote entrepreneurship in Lebanon. This seminar which took place on January 21 and 22, at ESA, was led by Professor Jacqueline Fendt, Chaire Entrepreneuriat ESCP Europe, but also a business angel and past CEO of top tier European companies.

By invitation only, high-level executives participated in the seminar, and hailed from different public and private institutions recognized for their support of entrepreneurs and SMEs, of which Berytech.

The objective of the workshop was to form a nucleus of trainers and coaches who will support entrepreneurs in the framework of a national program labeled “Entrepreneurs Lebanon” and which will facilitate the access of entrepreneurs and SMEs to business angels, equity financing and/or subsidized funding.

Participants worked in teams at setting up innovative ventures and pitching to investors for financing. Activities such as speed-networking and auto-pitching were also part of the learning tools.

Two women entrepreneurs contributed to the seminar, by providing testimonials around the challenges of doing business in Lebanon, while starting from scratch and juggling to establish an appropriate work-life balance.

At the conclusion of the two-day session, certificates of achievement were distributed, and a future action plan was proposed in order to deploy the Entrepreneurs Lebanon program which will ultimately contribute to the growth of the Lebanese economy.