North Lebanon Startup Weekend Competition at BAU – Tripoli Campus
23 November 2014For the second consecutive year, the Centre for Entrepreneurship (CFE) at BAU organized the North Lebanon Startup Weekend Competition in collaboration with Google for Entrepreneurs. The Competition was held from the 21st till the 23rd of November, 2014 at BAU Tripoli Branch, hosting 160 students from different schools and universities in the North. The participants brought their ideas which they developed into designs. They were then divided into teams which competed in presenting their ideas and projects. The three-day event was attended by 350 guests from the North, businessmen and entrepreneurs, and was co-organized together with the Tripoli Entrepreneurs Club.
The opening of the event was attended by Prof. Dr. Amr Galal El Adawi, President of BAU, Prof. Dr. Khaled Baghdadi, Vice-President for Tripoli Branch Affairs, Prof. Dr. Essam Osman, Vice-President for Medical Sciences, and the deans of faculties. The jury consisted of Dr. Mohamed Khalil, Director of Azm Center for Research at the Lebanese University, Mr. Fawaz Hamedi, General Director of BIAT, Mr. Khaled Desouki, founder of Ubilitynet, Mr. Fadi Mikati, representative of Kafalat Comany, Mr. Farah Sultan, representative of the Regional Project Manager Thomson Reuters, Mr. Mostafa Meraabi, General Director of Fayhaa School, and Mr. Dani Aranout, the Computer Engineer who graduated from BAU and has been awarded a number of prizes.
After the national anthem and the BAU anthem were played, the competition was launched by Dr. Wassim Itani, Director of the CFE. In his speech he stimulated the students calling upon them to believe in their projects and work on developing these towards the development of the economy and the society.
In his speech, Prof. El Adawi attributed the success of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at BAU to his firm belief in the students’ potentials and the need to provide them with job-opportunities to work and succeed. Their small projects need to be encouraged so that they may contribute to the development of these projects and their respective communities. Prof. El Adawi added that the organization of the competition in Tripoli for the second year running is part of BAU’s contribution to the development of the Northern community.
Mr. Nabil Itani, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of IDAL, emphasized in his speech on the need to support entrepreneurs and the participants. In his presentation he highlighted how IDAL helps in the support of both the society and economy.
Thirty-six students, then, presented their projects in 45 seconds each. The best 15 ideas were selected by vote, and each team then presented their project in 4 minutes. Finally the best 3 were selected:
-First Prize of $4000.-, presented by CFE, was awarded to the Tulos team. The project is an application that provides society with easy access to means of transportation.
-Second Prize of $3000.-, presented by BML, was awarded to the Derby team. The project is an application for football fans to book tickets and find out about team formations.
-Third Prize of $2000.-, presented by IDAL, was awarded to the Superbag team. The project is a suitcase that includes a GPRS and an internal scale which allows the traveler to know the weight of the bag and locating it if lost.
-BIAT Foundation also offered $500.- for the three winning teams, as well as services amounting to $1000.-.
A number of the competing teams are also taking part in the Global Startup Battle. The best 3 projects will be selected by international vote, and the winning team will receive prizes from Google.