Syrian-led Home Chef Lebanon And Loop Win First Prize At The Startup Roadshow in Beirut
Home Chef Lebanon, a home-made meals delivery service, won the first prize in the Early Stage track, while Loop, a peer-to-peer platform for exchanging and commercialising used toys, took home the first prize in the Idea stage track.
Syrian-led startups Home Chef Lebanon, a home-made meals delivery service, and Loop, a peer-to-peer platform for exchanging and commercialising used toys, have won the Startup Roadshow competition, held in Beirut Digital District on September 29th.
“We believe that every person has something to give. Children are usually only in the receiving end; but we believe that children should start thinking that they can give as well as receiving from an early age,” says Median Abd Albaki, co-founder of Loop.
"We think that children should start thinking that they can give as well as receiving from an early age,” says Median Abd Albaki, co-founder of Loop.
“Home Chef serves healthy, fresh and home-made food. A lot of students in dorms and employees with long working hours do not have enough time to prepare their food and they got bored of fast food; which are also expensive. We aim to provide a healthier option, while employing unemployed ladies in order to accelerate economic growth in the country,” says Ahmad Alhamwi, co-founder of Home Chef Lebanon.
The roadshow competition, organised by Jusoor in partnership with SPARK, is taking place across five cities in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, aiming to train, support, and boost the entrepreneurial talent of Syrian entrepreneurs in diaspora.
“Participants in Beirut set a high standard for the competition. The finalists have a head start on the other participants and will have more time to work and develop their businesses and ideas," says Jusoor Entrepreneurship Program Advisor Karim Samakie, who led the training in Beirut.
"We aim to provide a healthier option, while employing unemployed ladies in order to accelerate economic growth in the country,” says Ahmad Alhamwi, co-founder of Home Chef Lebanon.
The demo day took place as the conclusion of five intensive days in which entrepreneurs refined their ideas and worked on their business models, in preparation for the competition finals, which will take place in Amsterdam. "This is only the beginning, the teams need to continue working on developing their models and creating traction to maintain the upper hand in the finals. Participants in the other cities will need to ensure they put in the extra effort needed to compete. It’s going to be a very interesting adventure all the way to Amsterdam!”
The bootcamp, which took place in Beirut Digital District, kicked off on September 22nd and featured mentors like Saeb Nahas, Manager of Phoenician Funds, Mike Clarke, Program Director of the Humanitarian Innovation Lab, Layal Jebran, founder of Moubarmij, and Ahmad Sufian Bayram, Regional Manager of Techstars in the MENA region and Managing Director of Jusoor.
After Beirut, the competition started the bootcamp in Erbil on September 29th, and will continue on to Amman, Gaziantep, and Istanbul. At the end of the five roadshows, two winning teams from each city will get the chance to pitch in a Startup Battle at the Spark Ignite Conference in Amsterdam, for a chance to win the first prize.
The competition aims to discover the most visionary, bold, and ingenious Syrian entrepreneurs and equip them with the skills to shine. The roadshow offers entrepreneurs training and mentorship by experts, as well as Google Cloud Services, Facebook Ads, co-working space membership, and free design for their Pitch Deck.
Main Image: Ahmad Alhamwi, co-founder of Home Chef Lebanon. Courtesy of Startup Roadshow.
