The upper end of estimates sizes the Lebanese diaspora at around 14 million people, while the population of Lebanon itself sits at just around 6 million. Adnan Ammache, born into the Lebanese diaspora, but raised in Lebanon, saw this as an opportunity. In 2018, he founded Presentail, a gift-giving platform specifically marketed to expats looking to surprise their loved ones back in Lebanon with something special for their birthday, or the holidays. In a country that’s only made the world’s headlines of late due to economic crises, Adnan and Presentail stand out with their growth, with lofty goals, and a drive to create more employment inside their country.
Tag: Founders
Baker Bozeyeh, CEO and Founder of Flowless
Baker Bozeyeh, a sustainability engineer born and raised in Palestine, launched Flowless to address this very major pain point in his home country and region. Born out of Baker’s own work with a Palestinian utility company, he recognized the need for a better water management solution to optimize usage of this precious resource. Born out of Palestine’s Founder Institute Program, Baker and Flowless have been deploying their solution in Palestine and elsewhere in the region since about 2019. I had the chance to chat with him earlier in the summer. I hope you enjoy!
Hisham Kassim, Managing Partner at Kassim Legal
Hisham Kassim plays that role in MENA’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. As the Managing Partner of Kassim Legal, he runs one of the region’s only (perhaps the only) boutique corporate firms focused on startups, Venture Capital, and Private Equity. As we chatted, his vast knowledge and network in the region were readily apparent. We covered his background, and that of Kassim Legal (spoiler alert: it’s a family firm), but also discussed the similarities and differences in legal structures and approaches between the U.S. and MENA region. I even managed to pry some legal advice for the region’s early stage founders out of him. I’m joking, of course, about the prying part at least. Hisham also donates his time and expertise freely as part of his desire to contribute to a stronger startup community in the region.
ميس و هاني، مؤسسين، يلا نحكي
وقد قامت "يلا نحكي" التي أطلقت في عام 2017، بالعمل على التطرق للمواضيع والسرديات التي غالبا ما تترك دون أن يمسها مجتمع الجاليات العربية في الشتات، وزيادة تأثيرأصوات الشباب العرب الذين يعيشون خارج منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا، فعند القيام بتصفح سريع لموقعهم الإلكتروني، ستجدون محتوى رقمي يتراوح بين وصمة الصحة النفسية في المجتمع العربي، والهوية الجنسية في الشتات، وصولا للموارد اللازمة لدعم الأصوات الفلسطينية، فقد وجدت YLT مجتمعا مستعدا للاستماع والمساهمة في هذه المحادثات، من خلال ما يقرب من 70،000 متابع على Instagram.
Marwan Abdelhamid, Co-Founder, GrowHome
Countries in the Middle East and North Africa, especially those currently or historically wracked by conflict and displacement, have generated waves of immigration and refugees across the world. For places like Lebanon and Palestine, this has led to a larger population living outside the historical borders of the country than inside them. Syria may see a similar phenomenon over the course of the next generation. Millions more from the Middle East and North Africa have simply left the region in search of better economic and educational opportunities. As the world has grown more connected, and capital, knowledge, and people can traverse the globe quicker than ever before, some have begun to wonder whether these tragic outcomes can transform into assets for economic development.Marwan Abdelhamid, a Palestinian living, working, and studying in the U.S. right now, is working on an answer to that question. GrowHome is a startup that he co-founded to build connections between the diaspora and entrepreneurs in their home countries.
GrowHome- مروان عبد الحميد
إنَّ بلدان الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا، ولا سيما تلك المناطق التي مزقتها الصراعات والتشرد سواء حاليا أو على مدى التاريخ، مؤديا الى موجات من الهجرة واللاجئين في جميع أنحاء العالم. وبالنسبة لأماكن مثل لبنان وفلسطين، أدى ذلك إلى وجود عدد أكبر من السكان الذين يعيشون خارج الحدود التاريخية للبلاد مقارنة بعدد الذين يعيشون داخلها. وقد تشهد سوريا ظاهرة مماثلة على مدى الجيل القادم. و لقد غادر ملايين آخرون من الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا المنطقة بحثا عن فرص اقتصادية وتعليمية أفضل. ومع تزايد ترابط العالم، وتمكن رأس المال والمعرفة والناس من اجتياز العالم بسرعة أكبر من أي وقت مضى، بدأ البعض يتساءل عما إذا كانت هذه النتائج المأساوية بامكانها أن تتحول إلى أساسات للتنمية الاقتصادية.
Hasan Haider, Founder and Managing Partner, Plus.VC
When it comes to understanding the MENA region’s Seed stage venture capital and startup ecosystem, you’d be hard pressed to find someone with a wider breadth of experience than Hasan Haider. Formerly the Managing Partner of 500 Startups’ MENA Fund, Hasan and his partner Sharif Elbadawi launched Plus.VC in the fall of 2020 to continue the work they started at 500 Startups in 2017, backing the region and its diaspora’s most exciting Seed stage founders.
Like any good entrepreneur, Hasan’s foray into this world started with a pain point he experienced as a consumer. Namely, he couldn’t get access to the DVDs he wanted to watch in Bahrain. To solve this, he founded his first startup. As I heard the rest of his journey, I realized that this “see something, do something” attitude has really guided Hasan’s career all the way up until the founding of Plus.VC. He identified the missing components in his own experience as founder, which led him to set up Bahrain’s first angel investing network. That exposed him to the region’s funding gap for Seed stage startups, which propelled him to 500 Startups. While there, he was involved in nearly ¼ of the regions’ Seed deals, a track record that sets Plus.VC up nicely to invest “early and often in the non-obvious emerging market entrepreneurs, taking an early leadership role with founders to set them up for success.”
Read on to learn more about why Hasan’s so fired up about the region’s potential, what it’s like raising for a VC fund in MENA, what Hasan looks for in a founder, and so much more.
Germine Bouchnack, Associate and Egypt Operations Manager, Middle East Venture Partners, Egypt
I had the great fortune of touring Egypt’s startup ecosystem with Germine Bouchnack, an Associate at Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) and their Egypt Operations Manager. Talk about a rising star! Germine’s journey into entrepreneurship started during university and has traversed such notable local, regional and global institutions as Hult Prize, the Commercial International Bank (CIB), and Flat6Labs, before joining MEVP at the end of 2020. I’d suggest you follow her closely, because in a few years, this will be just one of the early articles or interviews profiling her work. I’m confident that her passion for entrepreneurship and venture capital, combined with her desire to make an impact at both a grassroots and national level will continue to lead her career into new and exciting places.
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