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Moaffak is a serial entrepreneur turned early stage investor working with ambitious founders of technology companies who want to disrupt boring businesses – in finance, commerce, communications, education, and entertainment.
Previously, Moaffak was co-founder of Trema (today: Wall Street systems), the leading technology solution for global corporations and financial institutions to manage their financial risks, assets and trading.
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Zahi is the principal data scientist at Bluecore, one of NYC’s fastest growing tech start-ups. Bluecore enables retailers to create and distribute personalized emails with previously unachievable speed and precision, dynamically reacting to customer behaviors and cataloguing changes in seconds. With more than 160 clients across more than 180 high-end apparel, electronics, automotive and consumer brands, Bluecore delivers customer engagement and conversion at rates that defy industry standards.
At Bluecore, Zahi manages all things data related, from gathering insights that help retailers better understand their customers and the effectiveness of their email marketing campaigns, to improving the personalization of triggered emails.
Zahi’s background is in machine learning. He received his PhD from MIT for work on semi-supervised learning algorithms to mitigate limited labeled training-data problems, applied to speaker and language identification. He then spent three years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Michigan, working at the intersection of machine learning and medicine, most notably building a cell phone application that unobtrusively and securely monitors psychiatric patients’ mood-states through their phone-call-recorded speech.
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Social entrepreneurs are visionary individuals who create innovative solutions to some of the world’s most perplexing social issues to create a widespread change. WASTE is a prime example of such visionaries; they specialize in creating unconventional urban bags, accessories and furniture out of advertising banners.
It all began in 2006 when the first concept bag was created by two friends with a vision and a passion for the environment: Kees es Souk was born. Today, Waste own and manage a collaborative designer-tailor workshop and have become international bag and furniture manufacturers. In addition to their presence in several concept stores and sleek boutiques, Waste lately developed a taste for vintage furniture, married to their signature component, reused banners; the result gives a refreshing and bespoke touch to any space.
WASTE participated in the 2014 BDL Accelerate Startup Competition and this year they have returned as Gold Sponsors of BDL Accelerate 2015 and have designed beautiful gift bags for our attendees using banners from last year’s event. You can visit their booth during the 2-day conference this Thursday and Friday to see samples of the items they design and manufacture and get an idea to how they contribute to the the environment and socioeconomics of Lebanon.
In the MENA region, there has been a rise in social entrepreneurship. The high youth population has been expressing dissatisfaction with the status quo and the socially committed young generation has turned to social entrepreneurship to create a social impact at an accelerated pace.
However, being a social entrepreneur is not an easy feat; it’s tough and challenging and there are several things to consider before being a social entrepreneur. To enable a new generation of social entrepreneurs to create positive change, Chivas launched The Venture, an initiative that calls for innovative businesses that create a positive impact and gives them the opportunity to apply and pitch for a share of The Venture’s $1 million fund, and to gain access to their tools and mentorship to accelerate their growth.
As part of the BDL Accelerate 2015 Idea Stage Startup workshop series and competition sponsored by Daher Capital and is themed Reimagining Lebanon , SETT a think tank focused on enabling emerging startup companies, has been offering a series of design-think workshops to empower applicants with the entrepreneurial skills to develop solutions for a better Lebanon. The contestants, who passionately want to create an impact in their community, have been assembled into 8 teams of 3 and each group has been assigned with an issue that they need to address.
If you have a great idea for solving a pressing social issue, do not be discouraged! Society needs you so go ahead and join the world of social entrepreneurship.
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BDL Accelerate 2015 is hosting a Wearables Hackathon powered by Innovo, a DNY Group company – an enticing opportunity for designers, innovators, engineers and developers.
At BDL Accelerate 2015, DNY Group will provide electronic components, a whole bunch of sensors, a wearable sleeve, 3D printing capabilities, and more so that participants grouped in teams can dream up and hack together wearables to enhance lifestyle or sports. in 36 to 48 hours.
The teams will pitch their solutions to a panel of local & international judges on stage at BDL Accelerate 2015. The winning team will win a $3,000 cash prize, the 1st runner-up team will win a $2,000 cash prize, and the 2nd runner-up team will win a $1,000 cash prize. The participants will also have the opportunity to pursue their project at Innovo’s lab after the hackathon is over.
Innovo, a DNY Group company, is organizing the Wearable Hackathon and will be providing the participants with guidance and know-how while also providing access to high-tech Hardware fabrication machines. Meet the Innovo team who will be running the hackathon:
Jad Berro
Founder
Jad is Innovo’s founder, he specializes in electronics design and manufacturing. Jad has been tinkering with electronics for as long as he can remember. He has the unique ability to build things in creative ways.
Nourhane Haidar
Communications Engineer
Nourhane has expertise in management and or
Jad Itani
Robotics Engineer
Jad holds masters’ degrees in robotics and in mechanical design. He has versatile skills that include 3D designing, electronics and firmware.
Nicolas Mrad
Communications Engineer
Nicolas specializes in circuitry, machining, production and the testing of new components.
Izzat Shehadeh
Software Developer
Through Izzat’s extensive experience in mobile applications and augmented reality, he has learned how to transform an idea to reality.
Youssef Sidani
Electrical Engineer
Youssef uses mathematics, complex algorithms and electronics to solve tough challenges.
