SwitchMed Green Entrepreneurship Programme has reached another milestone in Lebanon with the selection of the 10 best sustainable projects for the incubation phase!

Implemented by SCP/RAC and, in Lebanon, by Fondation Diane along with its network of partners gathered as the EcoSwitch Coalition, the Green Entrepreneurship Programme has provided 60 Lebanese sustainable entrepreneurs at ideation stage with support and tools to develop their green business models. Those new entrepreneurs benefited from a high-quality training and networking opportunities, especially during the EcoSwitch Festival (more information below).

Among them, 10 promising projects were selected for incubation. During this phase, the green entrepreneurs will be supported by an external technical assistance to identify the main areas to improve in their business idea, with the goal of being ready to enter the market at the end of the programme. On top of those goals, this process will provide them with training on how to access to funding and investment and enable them to assess the impact of their business model.

Meet the 10 projects selected:
– SUPERFOODS!: aims at building a network of high-tech, sustainable farms that use cutting-edge technology to grow and supply healthy consumers and food businesses in Lebanon and the region with fresh, locally-grown, and responsibly-farmed certified organic superfoods.
– CIRCL: aims at giving plastic waste new life as locally produced, affordable, functional and high-quality recycled and recyclable crates. They thrive to strengthen community engagement driving the shift towards a more sustainable lifestyle.
– Organy Clean: aims at providing sustainable, affordable, eco-friendly and innovative cleaning products by the utilization of beneficial agricultural materials through up cycling into valuable hygiene products.
– Sharing Municipalities: is an initiative that provides a holistic approach to solid waste management based on circular economy and sharing principles. The idea is to create a value chain for waste, in collaboration with different beneficiaries at the municipal level.
– Biofertile: aims at providing scalable biogas solutions in rural and urban areas while supporting farmers to increase their crops productivity by providing them with a high quality solid and liquid fertilizers to be used as a substitute of the chemical fertilizers.
– Pads4all: is an initiative that aims to decrease the price of production and in return, decrease the market price of the newly designed tampon and menstrual pads.
– Cobbler & Co: promotes sustainable fashion consumption by providing high quality shoes and bags revival and repair services. They contribute to saving the planet and mitigating pollution by refurbishing worn shoes and repurposing them for donation or disassembling them as recyclable material.
– Eco Match: is a service utilizing a customer-supplier database of materials to create matches between the inputs and outputs of manufacturers of diverse industries.
– ReFuse: is a social enterprise that runs recyclables collection points, sells recyclables to industries and shares the value with those who contributed with their sorted materials. Don’t call it waste, make it valuable.
– SolaRAY: provides a Portable Generator Electricity charged from the sun with zero noise, zero bills, and zero pollution used indoor and outdoor. It aims at empowering people to live in a sustainable environment, with convenient green portable electricity in Lebanon.

A glimpse of the EcoSwitch Festival:

This major event was organized by the EcoSwitch Coalition, both online and in Beirut, on 23-25 November 2021 to create networking opportunities among Switchers and other green entrepreneurs, introduce the Coalition and how it can help them, and transfer knowledge.

The event was attended by about 65 participants online (on 23-24 November) and 80 people at the networking event that took place in the Beirut Digital District (on 25 November).

Among the highlights of the event, the inspirational talks from four successful Lebanese green entrepreneurs made a particular impact. Four animated discussion panels with moderators, experts and eco-entrepreneurs were held on the following topics to enable the entrepreneurs to make informed decisions: Local Sourcing & Local Manufacturing; Export & Access to International Markets; Pricing Products in Times of Crisis; Access to Investment: Current Outlook – Donors & Investors.