The KIRI Mompreneur Challenge, organized by BEL Group and Berytech, aims to help Lebanese mothers improve their entrepreneurial skills.
Launched in March 2019 on Mother’s Day, around 80 applications were received, of which 30 projects were selected.
The participants attended several trainings from understanding the Lean Canvas to creating a business plan. A first round of selection was held in August 2019 where according to the evaluations of the jury, 11 projects were selected to continue the competition and receive intensive pitching formations.
Semi-finals
The second round of selection was be held in December, where the 11 teams pitched their startup in front of jury members Hady Khalaf – BEL Group, Global Sales Director Transformation and Capabilities, Sara Yaacoub – IM Capital, Investment Associate, and Angela Solomon – Jaleesa, Chief Executive Officer. The jury chose 5 projects for the final round to be held at the beginning of 2020, and they include Da3douka, Fill’nForm, Forgotten Rainbow, Green Robot Tech, and TheDigitalSHE.
“The pitching day was successful! The Mompreneurs were very happy about their pitches and took to heart the feedback from the jury members, who gave great advice,” comments Joanna Abi Abdallah, Business Support Manager at Berytech.
Mompreneur Challenge Finale
The finalists will go through intensive one-on-one pitching training to prepare them for the final ceremony which will take place in February 2020, where they will present in front of another set of jury members.
Three prizes will be up for grabs: 1st place worth $10,000, 2nd place worth $5,000 and 3rd place worth $3,000. The winners will also be enrolled in Berytech’s incubation program for 6 months.
Meet the Kiri Mompreneur Challenge Finalists
Afaf Balaa – Da3douka
Da3douka is a natural homemade play dough exclusively made from 100% food-grade ingredients to provide children, parents and teachers with alternative non toxic play dough product.
Rose Assaf Moubarak – Fill’nForm
For Lebanese young adults who have issues with governmental documents, Fill’nForm is a platform (website/mobile application) that contains user-friendly information with all needed locations and price transparency for daily life governmental documents in addition to offering a door to door service for persons who don’t have time to do them by themselves.
Cosette Chahoud Daouk – Forgotten Rainbow
Forgotten Rainbow is a line of organic natural food colors made from blend of fruit, vegetables and algae. It is vegan, gluten free and contains lots of vitamins and antioxidants. It comes as a super concentrated dehydrated powder in the full color range.
Randa Harb – Green Robot Tech
Green Robot Tech is an initiative targeting youth and kids aged 3 to 18 years delivering STEAM and DIY based projects tackling both robotics and renewable energy. All materials are eco-friendly and reused. This initiative aims to bridge the gap between scientific theories taught at schools and practical/applied hands-on STEAM projects.
Joelle Nohra – TheDigitalSHE
With its slogan “Rise, Evolve, Achieve”, TheDigitalSHE is dedicated to serve the Lebanese women aged from 18 years and above with a mission to empower women’s capabilities through offering an online portal that will help them access educational content in many fields of interest.
