“Not only can you get your hands on good quality, long-lasting and cool products, but also you can see how much waste you’ve reduced and share it with your peeps”. This is the idea that Raymond Boustani, a green entrepreneur behind Froz is sharing with us. In this sense, Froz could be defined as an e-commerce platform that provides swift access to many eco-friendly products with a twist: they’re gamifying waste reduction in Lebanon.
Green Coaching Support
Froz is one of the initiatives selected by Berytech in Lebanon that received support through the training program. Now, they have moved on to the next phase, the Green Coaching Support, where they will benefit from tailored support and group coaching sessions. These sessions will prepare them to run their first funding round, potentially scale to international markets, ensure an environmentally friendly lifecycle across their product/service, and train them to pitch in front of investors.
This community-based e-commerce platform works on making waste reduction easier and more affordable. “If you’re more of a dynamic person, we invite you to our group quests where we merge reducing waste with your habits”, states Boustani. Among these group quests, you can find a large variety of proposals such as Hike Mnefroz for hikers or Medawar Btefroz for volunteers after the Beirut blast.
Project Achievements
But what are the main achievements behind the project? So far, they have reduced 98 tons of waste and they are on a mission to reduce much more. In fact, the explosion of the Beirut port and the economic crisis that Lebanon is facing are some of the constraints against which they have to fight in the establishment of the project. Also, the devaluation of the local currency has hit them hard, but Froz pulled themselves together and rethought their strategy “to be better than ever”.
Raymond and his brother are practising architects. They were both working full-time at one of the best architecture offices in the region. At the same time, GIMED pushed them further to spend more time on Froz and one of them has now jumped into become full-time on Froz, empowering them to reach higher goals. “Focusing has helped us to better define our goals and put our energy in the best places”, says Raymond.
From an architecture office in Beirut to scaling a green idea
“It’s been a pleasure being part of the program. The sessions, coaches and other start-ups we have met so far are very inspiring and supportive”, shares Raymond. In his own words, the weekly training sessions are very beneficial as they mix theory with one-to-one tailored trainings.
For them it’s very encouraging to be surrounded by likeminded individuals that are also working on their own sustainable startup, especially during these times. “GIMED is helping start-ups grow with beneficial trainings that tackle all topics from setting up their mission and vision to developing our financial model”, he adds.
In Raymond’s, vision, he pushes entrepreneurs that have an idea to work on it and never give up. Even if circumstances show you otherwise, he encourages them to keep going. “If you believe in it and enjoy working on it, in the end you will get it and it will be better than you ever thought it would”, recognises Raymond.
GIMED Project in Brief
Berytech is the official partner of the The Green Impact MED Project – Positive Investments for Positive Impacts (GIMED) in Lebanon empowering green entrepreneurs at the idea and growth stage in addition to green experts. GIMED is an EU-funded project under the ENI-CBC Med Programme.
The Project In Numbers
- Duration: 46 months
- Start date: 01 September 2019 – End date: 31 August 2023
- Total budget: 2.633.106,29 €
- EU contribution: 2.369.106,29€ (90% co-financing to project)
- Main source of funding: European Union (ENI CBC Med Programme)
