Zoom In: Grains and Pulses, Freekeh In 10 Minutes

Grains and Pulses Freekeh 1200 x 628
One of our proudest achievements is bringing into reality our production line.

Grains and Pulses Freekeh 1200 x 628

What They Do:

Grains and Pulses uses innovative technology to produce healthy and convenient products. Their signature product, Fast Freekeh, is a high-quality super grain that can be cooked in 10 minutes without any cleaning and soaking, an innovative version of the traditional freekeh. In collaboration with USAID, Grains and Pulses started improving the freekeh production in Lebanon in 2015 and Fast Freekeh is the culmination of 2 years of research.

Startup Experience:

“We are re-introducing a Mediterranean ancient super grain in a new form so it can be enjoyed as fast as pasta with all its healthy contents conserved. Our business treats the Lebanese farmers and cooperatives as partners which will improve the quality of their life. 

We applied to the Agrytech Accelerator program to help us transform our idea into a successful business and lead a successful startup with the expertise of professional mentors, training, and the networking Berytech has to offer.

So far, we have built our first production line, worked on our finances, project management, branding, and marketing. And most importantly our team is our key success factor as they hold the skills the startup needs to succeed.

One of our proudest achievements is bringing into reality our production line. Though we faced a lot of roadblocks during the design, manufacturing, and development phases, we always re-iterated, modified, and tested new methods until we reached the desired results.

Managing our startup during the financial crises, COVID-19, and the continuous quarantine made it close to impossible to lead a successful startup. The Beirut port explosion devastated us and ripped us morally, the explosion literary wiped the city to the ground and in addition, COVID-19 made it harder for us to pursue our activities, we faced a lot of delays especially due to the lockdowns and quarantines it presented.

Seeing the rapid deterioration of the Lebanese economy, we knew our work will have a high impact on people through creating job opportunities, especially in the agricultural sector. We expect our main market to be outside of Lebanon, which will bring in fresh dollars into the economy.

This startup is a fourth child next to our three children and we want to see it grow. The Lebanese people are known to be resilient and with every hit we take, we stand up, clean the dust, and get back to business. What kept us going is our belief that our startup has great potential, it started as a project to improve the value chain of freekeh in Lebanon, to an academic research project, to an actual product from our startup.

We are now in the final stage of finalizing our production to go into the market. By the end of the program, we are aiming to be an early-stage startup with traction in the Lebanese market and become investment-ready. We hope to scale up and start exporting our product by the end of the year. We might get delayed, but in the end, we will take Freekeh that started in our region 4000 years ago to become the go-to healthy meal worldwide.”

Learn more about Berytech’s Agrytech Accelerator program, this startup will be pitching during the Agri-Food Innovation Day 2022.

Raghid Jarrah

Raghid Jarrah

Raghid Jarrah joined Berytech in July 2021 and is currently a Communication and Outreach Coordinator. He supports the team on various ongoing projects such as ARYAF, DAWERR, REAF, SAFI, WE4F, and others.

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