Out of 550 teams from over 60 countries around the world, 19 early-stage startup teams were selected to pitch their social impact solutions to conference attendees and judges at the 19th annual Global Social Venture Competition and the first winner of the International Prize was FabricAID, a Lebanese startup whose mission is to gather used clothes, sort and clean them and then sell them at symbolic prices to under-privileged communities.
Celebrating Social Entrepreneurship
To celebrate FabricAid’s success in particular and social entrepreneurship in Lebanon in General, Bertyech set up a warm gathering for the FabricAid team, organizations and individuals active in pushing the social entrepreneurship agenda in Lebanon at L’Atelier Du Miel on Thursday, July 5, 2018.
After congratulating the team, Rami Boujawde, Deputy GM of Berytech, described social entrepreneurs as “those who link between business and charity and use their passion and purpose to find solutions and ultimately generate real change.”
Berytech believes in the importance of Social Entrepreneurship and has been working to encourage new Lebanese success stories starting with its partnership with the Global Social Venture Competition since 2012. Since then Lebanese startups including RIEGO, LIMM, NAR, and CARPOLO have won the competition regionally, while many social enterprises shined locally: TRIPLE E, ECOHOUSE, HUBFORGOOD, MOMMY MADE, REWIND, SCIENCE FOR FUN SCIENCE FOR EVERYONE, and S-MILES.
FabricAid Gives Back
In his turn, Omar Itani, founder of FabricAid, started by thanking his team and the efforts they have put throughout the journey, he also thanked the various entities who provided support to FabricAid including the personalized support he received from the team members of Berytech: “In the past 10 weeks, we have gathered 4 tons of used clothes, sold more than 25,000 pieces to more than 4,000 under-priviledged beneficiaries while giving pack $10,000 to NGOs. I can’t say we’re successful yet, but we are on our way there.”
Berytech has worked with several key partners since 2012 to spread the word and mobilize entrepreneurs for the GSVC competition including USJ, BLCBANK, ALTCITY, DOT, ARCENCIEL, MAKESENSE, and Diane Foundation. Additionally, Berytech has developed the first mentoring academy for social entrepreneurs with MOWGLI and capacity building trainings with ESSEC BUSINESS SCHOOL giving access to the first diploma in Social Entrepreneurship at USJ.
Moving Forward
With social entrepreneurship and social innovation being a strategic priority, Berytech is working today on launching a full-fledged Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator and program. In the meantime, the call for applications for GSVC 2018 will be open in September. For more info contact kkhalil@berytech.org.
