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Lebanese Partners Meeting

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The IDEAL Project Coordinators from the American University of Beirut held a meeting with the Lebanese Partners at the University of Balamand on November 17, 2015. The aim of the meeting was to review each institution’s project expenditures and to estimate the future costs and possible budget reallocations.  The meeting’s purpose was also to discuss the logistics and proceedings of the Final Conference, the formation of the Research Association, and the publishing of the Research Administration Handbook.

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EU Partners Meeting

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The IDEAL Project Coordinators from the American University of Beirut held a meeting with the European Partners at TEIT – Greece on December 9 and 10, 2015. The aim of the meeting was to review each institution’s project expenditures and to estimate the future costs and possible budget reallocations specially those related to the travel costs.  The meeting also entailed updating the European partners on the Final Conference, the Research Association, and the Research Administration Handbook.

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Third Annual Meeting

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The third IDEAL project annual meeting was held on October 1and 2, 2015 at the Università Degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro in Bari, Italy. Partners discussed year three project achievements, administrative challenges and future project tasks and timeline. The meeting also gave the opportunity to USJ and LAU to report on their internship experience.  Some sessions were dedicated to discussing project outputs and sustainability which included entrepreneurship mentoring and the establishment of the Center for Research and Innovation (CRI), the formation of the research administration association, the networking event between the academia and industry, as well as the publishing of a research administration handbook for higher education institutions.

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IDEAL gets approval for a six month no-cost extension

IDEAL gets approval for a six month no-cost extension

Business Planning for Entrepreneurs

press-release-iconOn August 29, 2015 the AUB Center for Research and Innovation (CRI) held a crash course on Business Planning for the 10 winner teams of the IDEAL Business Competition from the Six Partner universities. The training was held at AUB and delivered by the Harvard Business School graduate, INSEAD graduate,  and Mowgli Experience mentor, Mr. Ahmad Fares. The skilled businessman gave an overview of the essentials business planning process and shared with the teams valuable lessons from his outstanding entrepreneurial journey.

 

Mowgli Mentoring Begins for the Winners of the IDEAL Business Competition

press-release-iconOn June 12th 2015 IDEAL Consortium Partner, the Mowgli Foundation, began a tailored six month Mowgli Mentoring Experience (MME) program by delivering a 3-day Kickstart workshop at the University of Balamand. The MME is a one-on-one and peer-mentoring program, which sees the 10 winners of the EU funded IDEAL Business Competition being matched with Mowgli trained mentors for mentoring relationships that will inspire and empower them to achieve their personal and business potential.

Within this highly interactive and experiential workshop, the entrepreneurs and Mowgli trained mentors learn, connect, build relationships and are matched for their 6-month program of mutual growth and development. Together they develop a working agreement that will form the basis of their mentoring relationship over the next 6 months.

The Mowgli Foundation seeks to support the sustainable development of societies through the mentoring and evolution of entrepreneurs and leaders. This is achieved through the provision of unique and unparalleled mentoring programs that enable mentors to offer their practical support and share their expertise to help entrepreneurs grow as leaders and expand their businesses, thereby creating new jobs and economic growth.

Kat Bury, Mowgli’s CEO commented: ‘“We are so pleased to be back in Lebanon, having delivered 7 successful mentoring programs here over the past 6 years. The country has a real appetite for entrepreneurship and we’re thrilled to partner with AUB on this EU project, to support more of Lebanon’s young entrepreneurs with mentoring that has proven to have short and long term impact in developing entrepreneurs, businesses and leaders.”

Mowgli provides mentoring that inspires, connects and guides entrepreneurs and leaders to overcome life’s personal and business challenges through:

  • Interactive, experiential and transformational ‘Kickstart’ workshops
  • A unique environment for accelerated relationship building, mentor training and matching
  • Engagement within a learning and mentoring focused global alumni network

Mowgli has an alumni with over 1600 members and has matched over 700 entrepreneurs with trained mentors in 13 countries; Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen and the UK.

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IDEAL Business Competition – Selection of 10 Finalists

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The pitching session of the IDEAL Business Competition was held on April 25, 2015 where the teams’ presentations were evaluated by an independent four-member jury panel of professional and distinguished experts. Ten teams from partner universities were selected as winners of the IDEAL Business Competition who will receive a one-to-one focused mentoring training by Mowgli Foundation on 12, 13 and 14 June 2015. The finalists’ projects were from various disciplines covering biomedical, environmental, gaming, design and information technology as well as services that tackle particular needs of customers. The jury panel was formed by Tarek Sadi, the Managing Director at Endeavor Lebanon, Samer Azar, Co-founder and CFO of AltCity, Nadine Asmar, Lead Facilitator at Mowgli Foundation, and Abdallah Absi, CEO at Zoomaal and Visionary Entrepreneur. The final selection was made based on a judging criteria that took into consideration the level of innovation, design, marketing, revenue, team, technical use, feasibility, presentation, and judges’ particular willingness to invest in this particular startup.

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Business Development Workshop

press-release-iconOn April 4, 2015 AltCity held the first Business Development Workshop for the 23 semi-finalist teams of the IDEAL Business Competition from the Six Partner universities. The workshop was organized and held at the premises of AltCity and helped the semi-finalists manage their teams as well as refine their project ideas into business proposals.
The workshop introduced the teams to key concepts on the lean startup method, market analysis, basic startup idea validation, and elevator (quick) pitching. The six sessions featured: pitching practicing and improvement, the basics of building successful teams, defining business market and developing customer personas, studying product-market fit and basic validation, and lean business model canvas. In a collegial atmosphere of collaborative work, the teams shared and exchanged ideas, and received constructive feedback. They were also introduced to various opportunities they could make use of in order to develop their startups.

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IDEAL PROJECT Presented at the Startup Spark Event

press-release-iconThe IDEAL project was presented and publicized during the Start-up Spark event that took place at the Council of Ministers’ Palace on Wednesday, February 25, 2015 which was hosted by the Lebanese Prime Minister’s Wife, Mrs. Lama Salam. The purpose of the event was to inspire young entrepreneurs and students to pursue their dream jobs and to provide them with the opportunity to network with each other and with the multitude of young and successful entrepreneurs, investors, and representatives of incubators, accelerators, startups, companies, institutions, and NGOs who were also hosted. The applicants to the IDEAL Business Competition were also invited to attend the event in order to maximize their professional networks, and assist them in launching their startups.
During the event, a pull-up banner for IDEAL Business Competition was displayed, and flyers about IDEAL’s goals and outputs were distributed. IDEAL representatives informed the invitees about the project’s activities and engaged them in a group ideation game. The players were invited to express their daily problems and challenges on sticky notes and brainstormed to find innovative solutions. Toward the end of the game, the participants were invited to vote on all the posted innovative solutions based on their feasibility and originality.

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AUB Innovation Day

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The Office of Grants and Contracts and the newly established Center for Research and Innovation organized a student activity entitled “AUB Innovation Day” to disseminate and publicize the IDEAL Business Competition and to promote innovation and entrepreneurship culture among AUB students. The event took place on Tuesday, February 10th, 2015 from 11:00 am until 3:00 in front of the Jaffet Memorial Library, AUB. Several student and faculty groups and centers and other organizations which have similar objectives to the IDEAL project were invited to contribute and participate in the event. As a result the event attracted 130 participants who participated in the different small competitive activities organized by more than one partner.

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