Support For The Establishment Of A Business Incubator In Jbeil

Throughout the recent years, there has been an increased awareness on the importance of embracing entrepreneurship as key catalyst for economic revival and growth in Lebanon. There has been further development of ecosystem for entrepreneurs, and improving the business environment through subsidized loans, initiated by the Central Bank of Lebanon, via Kafalat, along with emergence of private sector led programs focusing on various stages of entrepreneurs, whether at the start-up or growth phase. For youth, entrepreneurship is a good opportunity to start business. In Lebanon - as in most countries in the region as well as in high-growth economies – it is young firms and startups that create most jobs. According to the World Bank report on promoting poverty reduction in 2015, micro-startups – firms between 0 to 4 years of activity and with less than 4 workers - accounted for 77 percent of aggregate net job creation and generated about 66,000 jobs in Lebanon between 2005 and 2010[1]. The entrepreneurship ecosystem comprises numerous organizations that support entrepreneurs across all stages, and provide various services that are not only limited to coaching or mentoring but also linking to financial institutions, and advocacy for providing a better business enabling environment. Most of those organizations are based in Greater Beirut and Mount Lebanon, but the situation differs when you start to move further from Beirut towards the Northern regions, where support diminishes down to few organizations providing support to entrepreneurs. Berytech is assessing the possibility of setting up a business incubator center in Jbeil to support the growth of local MSMEs in the area, in an attempt to spearhead projects that foster income generation and entrepreneurship for Lebanese youth. Whilst being the largest one of four main regions in Lebanon, the Economy of Mount Lebanon is harmonious with the overall economy of the country, with economic activities centered around Tourism, Agriculture, Industry, and Trade, as well as emerging sectors such as creative sectors in the region specifically. In Byblos, the region is primarily dependent on agriculture and some light manufacturing industries. Tourism also plays an important role in the city of Byblos. Berytech requires the services of an expert to conduct an assessment of the entrepreneurial enabling environment and feasibility study in the area of Byblos for the possibility of the establishment of a business incubator that supports the development and growth of entrepreneurs and start-ups within identified priority sectors.