As part of the European Union for Women Empowerment Programme in Lebanon, Berytech and Expertise France are launching the Women Economic Empowerment for Lebanon Project (WEEL) to support women-owned and women-led businesses in Lebanon.
WEEL will provide between 8 and 20 MSMEs and startups with grants that vary from 15,000 to 50,000 Euros to be used for investments, covering expenditures, and getting technical assistance to strengthen and grow their businesses despite the challenging political, economic, and social environment in Lebanon.
Eligibility Criteria for MSMEs
To be considered, applying MSMEs need to be:
- Legally registered businesses in Lebanon, including cooperatives and firms in the social and solidarity economy.
- Lebanese nationals as owners or CEOs.
- Women and/or led businesses.
- Already established Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.
- Businesses/cooperatives working across sectors – priority will be given to firms outside the agricultural/agribusiness, but these last ones will be also considered if a very good proposal arises. This includes but is not limited to: IT and IT services, creative industries, financial services, education, health providers or health equipment producers, transporters, storage centers, processors, distributors, wholesalers, exporters and importers, retailers, manufacturing firms in general.
- All employees must have a contract.
- Companies will be up to date on their social security payment and tax obligations.
- Eligible businesses will have to submit a plan on how they intend on using the funds/grant and will need to submit relative supporting documentation (quotations, invoices, receipts, etc..)
Eligibility Criteria for Startups
To be considered, applying Startups need to be:
- Legally registered startups in Lebanon from Seed to Growth stage already integrated into an IM Fndng supported accelerator and/or fund.
- Lebanese nationals as owners or CEOs.
- Women-led businesses.
- The startup is less than 6 years old (starting from legal registration).
- Received less than USD 3M in total funding since establishment.
- Businesses working across the following sectors – This includes but is not limited to SaaS, AI/Data, Ecommerce, Edtech, Health Tech, Media & Entertainment, and Fashion & Design.
- Companies must have contractual employees with social security payments and tax obligations up to date.
- All employees must have a contract.
- Companies will be up to date on their social security payment and tax obligations.
- Eligible startups will have to submit a plan on how they intend on using the funds/grant and will need to submit relative supporting documentation (quotations, invoices, receipts, etc.).
Part of EU4WE
This project is part of a larger programme, the EU for Women Empowerment (EU4WE), a 42-month programme (October 2019 – March 2023) funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France. It aims at promoting full and unconditional equality between men and women in Lebanon. The specific purpose of EU4WE is to reduce gender-based violence through women’s empowerment and enhance existing institutional mechanisms working towards gender equality.
