DAWERR: Nadeera Wins the Clearinghouse Program

Pic 2 Group Photo Final ClearingHouse Phase 1
The DAWERR Clearinghouse is a chance for young entrepreneurs and startups to discover the opportunities in the Lebanese solid waste sector

Pic 2 Group Photo Final ClearingHouse Phase 1

Nadeera wins the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Clearinghouse 2021 program under the USAID Diverting Waste by Encouraging Reuse and Recycling (DAWERR) Activity with the aim of developing a digital marketplace for recyclables, challenging companies to provide innovative solutions in tackling the issue of matching buyers and sellers.  

Reem Khattar, the co-founder at Nadeera, said: “We applied to the DAWERR Clearinghouse in order to contribute to the waste management industry in Lebanon by developing ReLIST to tackle present challenges which will digitally integrate the industry, introduce public ledgers to increase trust, and streamline activities across the lifecycle.” 

Developing a Marketplace for Recyclables 

The DAWERR Clearinghouse is a chance for young entrepreneurs and startups to discover the opportunities in the Lebanese solid waste sector and explore the business viability of a web-based Lebanese marketplace for recyclables. 

The three-month incubation program was designed to provide the selected companies with the support they need to develop a digital platform for source-separated recyclables to match demand and supply while ensuring transparency across the solid waste Recycling Value Chains (RVCs). 

Nadeera, the winner of the first phase of the incubation program will move forward to the second phase to be further supported in developing their innovative solution for an additional period of six months. The objective is to build Nadeera’s MVP, acquire customers, build partnerships and become investment ready. Nadeera will receive a grant of up to 40,000$ to support them in launching their new business service. 

Ghassan Kozah, a Multidisciplinary Expert, was a member of the final jury during the selection day. “It is really interesting to see these companies trying to bring a solution to a huge problem that we have in Lebanon”, he stated. Chadi Abou Nohra, Food System Challenge Program Manager at Berytech and also part of the jury, stated that “The DAWERR Jury Day was exciting, we had three applicants that were right on point with good proposals.”

During the first phase of the DAWERR Clearinghouse program, three companies were incubated Nadeera, Live Love Recycle, and VerdeTech where each received an in-kind grant of 3000$. The objectives of the first phase were to validate assumptions about the problem, develop a solution, build a prototype, create a financial model, and a strategy to go to market. 

Founder of Live Love Recycle, Georges Bitar, said: “We went through different workshops, to help us fine-tune our marketplace idea and we worked on changing and improving the idea tremendously in the last eight months.”  

“Today we are presenting an idea, on the possibility of injecting funds to the Lebanese market, through trading in recyclable materials,” explained Julie Maatouk, Marketing Advisor at VerdeTech. 

“We launched the DAWERR Clearinghouse event in search of a digitized solution that would provide a marketplace for source-separated recyclables, increase access to markets, match buyers and sellers, facilitate transactions, reduce transportation distances and cost, and ensure transparency across the solid waste RVCs. We were really excited to see all the brilliant solutions that several startups presented, especially the three finalists Nadeera, Live Love Recycle, and Verdetech. Each had a unique value proposition and business model which were quite remarkable,” commented the DAWERR team.

“We look forward to how Nadeera will finish all features for their solution ReList, and witness tangible positive changes in the market.” 

About DAWERR 

Diverting Waste by Encouraging Reuse and Recycling(DAWERR) is a five-year activity funded by USAID and implemented by ECODITin partnership with Berytech, Compost Baladi, ECODIT Liban and ELARD. The DAWERR program aims to improve the social, environmental, and economic well-being of Lebanese citizens by establishing sustainable solid waste recovery and diversion systems in collaboration with municipalities throughout rural areas in Lebanon. 

Joey Ghanem

Joey Ghanem

Joey Ghanem joined Berytech in 2018 and is currently the Communication and Outreach Manager. She has been supporting entrepreneurs and SMEs, focusing on growing community engagement through developing, managing and implementing several activities and projects.

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