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Bringing detox to Beirut

Entrepreneur of the week: Leila Fakih Nashabe and Hana Alireza

by Maya Sioufi

Company: Qi Juices

Country: Lebanon

Industry: Food and Beverage

Founders: Leila Fakih Nashabe and Hana Alireza

Established in: 2012

Number of employees: 7

Revenues last year: Expected revenues of $100,000 in 2013

Capital raised: Kafalat loan of $114,000

 

Beyonce, Oprah and Gwyneth Paltrow have all done detox diets to shed a few pounds and feel healthier before the summer. Now the hugely popular American concept has landed in Beirut.

The idea is simple — a liquid-only diet for three days. That’s what the founders of Qi Juices, Leila Fakih Nashabe and Hana Alireza, recommend to make you feel healthier
It is not cheap, mind you. For $65 a day, you get six juices made of homegrown fruits and vegetables. The cleansing program is an extreme diet plan that claims to remove the toxins from your body. From a Red Magic juice with beetroot and ginger to a Green Dream juice with spinach and parsley, the three-day cleansing program — which can be extended to five days or cut to just one — requires a dedicated will to detox, perhaps encouraged by overindulgence at the dinner table or a few extra summer nights out. Detoxers often lose between one and three kilos but the two women stress that it is not about losing weight but being healthy.

Launched in March of this year out of a kitchen — or ‘Qitchen’ as the founders like to call it — in the heart of Achrafieh, the idea was initially sparked by a trip to California when Alireza went on a juice cleanse program for three days in Los Angeles. After finishing the detox she felt more energetic, so she decided to bring the idea to Lebanon, rich in agricultural produce.

She initially partnered with her old friend Nashabe in December 2011 but they found funding hard to come by. Eventually they succeeded in obtaining a $114,000 loan from the government-subsidized loan program Kafalat and have started producing their products this year. “It took over a year; Kafalat was skeptical about the idea,” says Nashabe. The founders themselves funded the remaining cost of the project, putting in $86,000 to reach their $200,000 target.

Carrot and apple juice, anyone?

 

At $10.8 a bottle, the Qitchen has a maximum capacity to produce up to 400 bottles a day and the founders expect to generate between $100,000 and $120,000 in their first year in operation.  With a three-day shelf life, the founders are selling the juices directly to clients on order and have recently signed with organic food store New Earth. Other organic stores are also showing interest in buying their products.

As for the taste of these healthy juices, customers will be pleasantly surprised by the often odd-sounding juices, some of which contain spinach, parsley, beetroots or event fennel and romaine lettuce. Colorado-based nutritionist Natasha Henry advises the founders on the mix of the products to maximize the nutritional benefits. Henry established New Paradigm Healing, a clinic that claims to provide natural therapies for the physical and spiritual well-being.

While the detox diet is hot in America with several Hollywood celebrities behind the hype, there is still little scientific evidence backing its claimed benefits — from removing toxins to losing weight. The debate among nutritionists is fierce. What is not in doubt — as we were so often told in our youth — is that eating fruits and vegetables adds a significant source of vitamins to our daily diet. So while the cleansing program may be of debatable value, the vitamin-rich homegrown fruits and vegetables packed in one small bottle of juice can’t hurt — except your wallet.

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Maya Sioufi

Maya is a research consultant on Arab youth entrepreneurship and employment. She headed Executive's banking, finance and entrepreneurship sections from 2011 to 2013. Previously, she worked at JP Morgan in London in equity sales for three years. She holds an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a BA in Economics from the American University of Beirut (AUB).   
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