A sobering reality emerges in the shadow of the long-awaited 2019 budget, declared by Prime Minister Saad Hariri as the most austere in Lebanon’s history. As a stop-gap fiscal rescue package, it falls short of the transformational budget, based on a grand national vision for debt reduction and upgrading of critical infrastructure that is sorely…
2018 has been a better year for startups
Lebanon’s startup ecosystem is in much better shape today than 10 years ago, thanks in large part to Circular 331 from Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s central bank. We at B&Y Venture Partners have invested in some fantastic companies with exceptional founders and are very pleased with the quality of our portfolio to date. Most…
Lebanon’s entrepreneurship ecosystem
Lebanon’s entrepreneurship landscape has “leapfrogged” since August 2013, when Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s central bank, released Circular 331 that authorized Lebanese banks to invest in new startups in the knowledge economy. This policy has spurred the development of new growth capital funds and the entry of commercial banks into the equity market, unleashing (theoretically)…
Lebanese startups in need of investments
Historically, Lebanon’s economy has in large part depended on services, including tourism, F&B, financial services, education, and design. In addition, Lebanon has a strong agriculture sector that constitutes another pillar of the economy. Still, these services and resources are limited in scale due to the scarce availability of local resources, whether natural or human. As…
Beyond start-ups
Lebanon has followed other countries in the region and abroad in promoting entrepreneurship to achieve economic growth and to generate future job opportunities. Entrepreneurship is considered a valid tool to help lead the country into a knowledge economy, where the role of information and technological change are the main drivers. In this context, education can…