Innovators, it seems, are about as common as the cars which occupy Lebanese roads, but are far more conscious about the time required to reach their destination. Hot on the heels of our November 2015 entrepreneurship special report, Executive was keen to interview and scrutinise a number of both new and familiar faces in the ecosystem and compile our list of the top 20 entrepreneurs in Lebanon. With 2015 seeing more investment in terms of expertise, time and money, suddenly our cities have become awash with opportunities that favour the entrepreneurial brave – those who overcome the fear of failure and are motivated to join a fiery ecosystem. As Amelia Earhart, the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic, put it: “there are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows, one of which rolls.”
Dysfunctional government institutions have seen some new lows this year. This failure to provide for even the most basic needs seems to have inspired entrepreneurs to kick-start ideas that are more human centered. In light of this, Executive has decided to focus this year on companies that are either directly or indirectly trying to pull Lebanon back from the man-made abyss it seems to be staring into. Although financial revenues and economic performance are never far from mind, many of Lebanon’s most intriguing and innovative startups are still in idea or early stages. These often feature in one of the accelerators that have shot up over the last year. Consequently, yearly turnover and revenue were still in the theoretical and estimation stage for some, while others could disclose full figures and put financial pen to paper. Therefore, Executive – while valuing economic performance – was keen to offer a spotlight to the companies that were offering strong solutions to Lebanese problems, even if their financials were, at time of writing, virtual.
Aside from considering all types of companies, from idea-stage to the fully flourishing, Executive took note of the scalability and business models of the ventures under scrutiny. While innovation is exciting, an idea is unlikely to take form unless it can persuade investors – and consequently Executive – of its stringent commercial viability. Therefore, within this context, growth capabilities and business proposition were also never far from mind when compiling the list of Lebanon’s top 20 entrepreneurs, even though some ventures we examined seemed to answer all Lebanese problems. As Richard Feynman, the Nobel prize winning physicist, once said, “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.”
With the above in mind, Executive took into consideration three main criteria when compiling the list of Lebanon’s top 20 entrepreneurs:
1) Environmental Impact: Inspired by the growing trash piles that decorate our country, the environmental impact of a startup’s venture was awarded strong weight in our methodology. If the company addresses a particular issue which has significant environmental impact, beyond collecting garbage, we examined what and how the venture is tackling it, and whether the idea would gain traction in wider markets. Companies were scored on whether the products they’ve developed, or are developing, – technological or otherwise – could make a measurable difference to the surrounding environment. These differences were examined in light of what improvements startups could make with environmental challenges that have otherwise been neglected.
2) Social entrepreneurship: Safe to say, 2015 wasn’t the world’s greatest display of humanitarian empathy. Therefore, within our methodology, strong weight was also given to startups and ventures which have developed, or are developing, products which would have a dramatic improvement on people’s lives and take into account strong social and cultural goals. Companies which outline solutions that tackle some of the most pressing social issues in Lebanon, validated by market research, were scored highly. They were also scrutinized for the viability of their solution or product so as not to fall into a public relations honey trap. The performance and profit was examined in light of how positive a return these ventures would give to society.
3) Job creation: Startups have been analyzed in terms of what positive benefit they could have for the Lebanese labor market. Companies which have the potential to create, whether directly or indirectly, employment for local talent scored highly in our methodology. This was prioritized in light of one of the key goals of the entire ecosystem, which is to retain high level talent and mitigate the brain drain which Lebanon has suffered from over the last few decades. Within the category also featured the ability to create a job skill set for a user of the product, which could then be implemented when seeking employment.
