The eight winning teams selected to join the Go2Market Acceleration Program successfully went through intensive coaching sessions where they received technical and practical guidance with experts in the WEF-NEXUS.
They worked to develop their commercialization and market strategy, learn about basic financial modeling, validate their innovation in the market and prepare a pitch to present to investors and partners.
About the Acceleration Program
The objective of the accelerator was to validate the business model and the go-to-market strategy and allow the entrepreneurs to explore the right partnerships and strengthen the final pitch deck.
“It was great for me to get in touch with the startup ecosystem in Lebanon and Egypt, with great contacts including Berytech. Mentors were highly skilled, and were able to effectively illustrate key entrepreneurial skills to us” said Hichem Mokni from NextAV -Tunisia.
Following an assessment, a detailed individual plan was developed including group and one-on-one sessions with Dr. Mohab Anis and Moahmed Kash, covering business model market validation, financial plans and projections, and Go-to-market strategy.
“What my team and I really appreciated about this program was the detailed information that was given to us; the concepts were tackled very deeply which helped us diagnose the weak points in our business and improve them. In addition to that, the fact that every team was treated with a tailored approach, and not just through holistic ideas, enabled our growth. Finally, we would like to highlight how grateful we are for the chance that was given to us to present our startup in front of regional stakeholders.”, explained Christelle Bou Harb from Drive Green.
The virtual regional Go2Market Acceleration Program took place on the 14th, 15th, 16th and 20th of December and 10th, 11th of January.
What’s next
After completing the Go2Market Acceleration program, the eight teams participated in the upcoming WEF-NEXUS innovation week, from 17 till 20 January.
They pitched their WEF NEXUS innovations and businesses during the PHEMAC Brokerage event happening on the 18th of January. This exposure will give them the opportunity to access the right partnerships, stakeholders, investors, and trainers in the Mediterranean region.
“The Hackathon organized by Berytech exceeded my expectation at all levels. The program was very well organized and planned. The follow-up with attendees was very consistent making the program very serious allowing participants to reach their goals. Coming from an academic background, I found this Hackathon very useful. It delivered valuable information and guidance to me to move forward in my project. I learned key steps on how to progress in building a strong business plan to attract investors and donors. More importantly, this hackathon is not only applied to Water, Energy, Food Nexus but can also serve any other topic,” elaborated Antoine Ghauch from REIIE.
About PHEMAC
The PHEMAC project is co-funded by the European Union under the PRIMA program. This project consists of creating an interactive IHUB platform which aims to capitalize on the results and best practices of the innovative projects carried out and those in progress linked to NEXUS and more particularly in the fields of water and agriculture in the Euro-Mediterranean region. PHEMAC will focus on best practices and projects related to farming system, water, and food.
Berytech is an implementing partner in Lebanon of the PHEMAC project and activities, including the setting up of an innovation support helpdesk to facilitate the successful replication of cataloged and validated best practices in the EU-MPC region, the organization of innovation weeks, hackathon events, bootcamp and Go2market support activities.
