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) more than half a billion dollars into the Lebanese economy. This sudden abundant supply obviously generated demand and buzz around startup creation, from entrepreneurs lining up with business ideas, to support platforms such as accelerators and business support organizations, and facilitators such as entrepreneurial networks and universities that promote entrepreneurship. Though some of these organizations and resources are at a nascent stage of development, the primary elements of a complete entrepreneurial ecosystem are present, as can be seen in the diagram below. Many of the above building blocks also come from non-Circular 331 initiatives, contributing