Tag Archives: ecosystem

Marianne Hoayek – BDL

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Marianne Hoayek
Banque du Liban, Director of the Executive Office

Governor Riad Salameh assigned Marianne Hoayek to the challenging task of restructuring Banque du Liban (BDL) in 2005. This huge endeavor was the starting point for Hoayek’s tenure at BDL. 10 years later, she is the Executive Director of the Executive Office that reports directly to the Governor.

The main mission of the Executive Office is to manage and follow up on the organization and reform projects that fall within BDL strategic orientation, and to coordinate their implementation in addition to promoting Corporate Social Responsibility. It is also the Executive Office that oversees the implementation of BDL Circular 331 that encourages Lebanese banks to invest in the startup ecosystem that resulted in US $400 million startup funds. This ambitious project aims to create employment opportunities, and generate income and economy growth.

BDL Circular 331 looks to reverse the trend of Lebanon’s university graduates leaving the country to look for jobs elsewhere. Hoayek stated in her speech at BDL Accelerate 2014 [insert link to script] that Lebanon has the human capital and talents required to develop a startup ecosystem but what was missing were the appropriate tools and financing hence why BDL decided to intervene. It is through BDL Circular 331 that many companies now have the chance to bring their innovative ideas to life not only through the financial aspect, but also by backing and supporting boot camps and training programs that would support and help entrepreneurs develop further.

You can find Marianne Hoayek’s speeches from BDL Accelerate 2014 at the below links:

To watch her speech at BDL Accelerate 2014 Opening Ceremony click here.
To read her introduction speech click here.
To read her closing note click here.
Or watch her closing note click here:

Riad Salameh – BDL

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Riad Salameh
Governor of Banque du Liban

Riad Salameh graduated with a degree in Economics from the American University of Beirut. He has been the Governor of Banque du Liban (BDL) for 22 years. He was appointed in1993 and then reappointed for three consecutive terms in 1999, 2005, and 2011. In this capacity, he chairs the BDL Central Council, the Higher Banking Commission, the AML/CFT Special Investigation Commission, the Open Market and Investment Committees, and the Capital Markets Authority. Moreover, he is a member of the Board of Governors at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF). Prior to becoming Governor, he had an extensive career in Merrill Lynch Beirut and then in Paris, where he was the VP and Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch.

It is with Governor Salameh’s leadership and his belief that the knowledge economy should become one of the pillars of Lebanon’s economy, along with his confidence in Lebanon’s human talent, that BDL issued BDL Circular 331 to encourage Lebanese banks to invest in this sector.

As governor of Banque du Liban, Governor Salameh has maintained economic stability despite all the political and military turmoil Lebanon has faced since 1993, as well as numerous global economic crises. His achievements have been recognized locally and globally. He has received numerous awards and accolades throughout the years including Central Banker of the Year 2009 by The Banker Magazine, the 2006 Euromoney Award as the best Central Bank Governor in the World, the 2005 Euromoney Award for Emerging Markets as the Best Central Bank Governor in the Middle East, and several more Euromoney Awards.

To read Governor Riad Salameh’s  opening speech at BDL Accelerate 2014 click here and/or watch the opening ceremony:

What is a Startup?

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We’ve been asked a number of times to explain and define what a startup is. What criteria make up a startup? If you search the Internet for an answer, you will find several opinions and discussions on how to define a startup company.

The questions being asked are if the age of the company defines a startup, the number of employees it has, its management structure, or the revenue it generates. Is it all the above combined?

Let us take a look at an example:

Uber is a company that has been around for 6 years, is valued at over $50 billion, operates in approximately 60 countries and has tens of thousands of employees worldwide. Is it still classified as a startup company? If you ask Uber, they would say yes. Many would argue otherwise based on the number of years it has been around and its value. However, others would argue that it still is classified as a startup since it still is growing rapidly, while discovering the services to offer and its customers.

Many startup founders believe that startups are not defined by metrics but that it’s a state of mind and culture that classifies a company as a startup. What does that mean? Well, when people join a startup company, they decide to sacrifice stability in exchange for the potential to grow tremendously and for the excitement of being a part of something that is making an instantaneous impact on the world.

A startup does not have to be tech-oriented but one thing everyone agrees on is its ability to grow. A startup company is designed to scale very quickly unconstrained by geography and this is a quality that startups have that differentiates them from small businesses. Hence, a little fashion boutique in one town is not considered a startup. Another characteristic everyone agrees on to classify a company as a startup is that success is not guaranteed and there is a constant risk in investing in the company.

In conclusion, we would define startups as high-risk innovative business ideas created to solve an issue, which could either result in massive success or failure.

 

Lebanon as a Gateway into the Middle East

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middle eastLebanon is a country that is renowned for its excellent educational institutions, for its creative and design sector, its financial institutions, as well as its engineering sector. It’s a country filled with highly talented individuals who are entrepreneurial by nature.

In recent years, we’ve seen a rise in many dedicated organizations that have been working hard to promote and nurture innovative business leading the startup ecosystem to develop.

Lebanon is not only geographically ideally located as a gateway to the Arab world, Africa, and Europe but it also has very strong links to countries such as France, London and a few GCC countries. This benefits Lebanon since it is able to provide startup companies with global access to capital and investors.

The crucial support of BDL Circular 331, a policy that requires banks to invest up to 3% of their deposits into Lebanon’s startup ecosystem, resulted in a US $500 million fund to be invested into startups over the next 5 years. The Lebanese startup ecosystem has been thriving and has great potential to become the startup world’s gateway into the Middle East as well as the launch pad for Arab tech companies.

*Source: The National

 

The Bright Future of Lebanon’s Startup Ecosystem – with faster Internet.

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On the second day of BDL Accelerate 2014, the halls were buzzing and the audience was cheering. During the panel, Lebanon’s Ecosystem, the controversial topic of the current slow Internet connection in Lebanon popped up and the discussion got heated. It was apparent that members of the panel and the audience were all frustrated by the snail-paced Internet connection available in the country.

As Mike Butcher points out in this article, “The current average Internet speed in Lebanon is 3.11 Mbps, far lower than the Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates, which enjoys an average 27.9 Mbps.” He also adds that simply doubling the bandwidth would improve Lebanon’s GDP by 0.6 percent. Then why has this not been done? Politics. Due to political reasons and gains, OGERO has been obstructing the development of Lebanon’s Internet Economy. All policies similar to this one hinder the development of the country’s economy, including the startup ecosystem.

In his article, Butcher goes on to highlight many of the positive aspects of the Lebanese Startup Ecosystem that he witnessed during BDL Accelerate 2014 including new support initiatives, the promising investment scene, clusters, Human talent, successful entrepreneurs, upcoming startups, and accelerators and startup events.

Butcher concluded that Lebanon’s startup ecosystem has potential to develop and that hopefully the country’s politicians will realize the requirement of decent internet access.