One year into the Agrytech accelerator, Batch 1 finishes their incubation period and 14 teams from Batch 2 get selected to join the second phase of the accelerator.
Berytech, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, celebrated entrepreneurship and innovation in the presence of those who supported the Agrytech program during its first year. The event was held on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 at Parcours des Saveurs.
Celebrating Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Chairman and CEO of Berytech, Maroun N. Chammas, welcomed the startups enrolled in the Agrytech Program along with the guests who helped and supported the Agrytech program during its first year.
During the celebration, the startups of Batch 2, accepted into the second phase of the accelerator program, showcased their products and ideas to several professionals and experts invited to the event.
Ramy Boujawdeh, deputy GM of Berytech, stated: “the Agrytech program was created because there is a need to feed the population. Agrytech is giving the opportunity to people from different backgrounds to come up with innovative solutions in the agri-food sector to make a change by reducing waste, improving the economy and the production in a healthy and sustainable way.”
Agrytech’s Milestone
Since the launch of Agrytech, startups enrolled in the program had the opportunity to meet with international experts such as Source institute, Farmhack, Startlife, IES business school, get exposure and take part in several exhibitions such as the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA) and Horeca . The 7 finalists of Batch 1 that made it up until the end of the accelerator and finished a full year in the Agrytech program while getting continuous business support, technical expertise and grants to help them move forward, were congratulated.
Jad Atallah, co-founder of Smart Gourmet stated that his company gained a lot of traction because of the connection Agrytech introduced to them. They now have their product in more than 300 stores in Lebanon and 450 in the UAE.
As for Salim Yasmine, co-founder of 209 Lebanese wine shared: “We always start with an idea we think is a solution to bridge a gap. But to do so we need three major components: time, money and expertise. With Agrytech we got the right experts at the right time thus reducing the learning curve leading to needing less money because we were gaining experience faster.”
Richardos Lebbos, co-founder of Starchy, thanked Berytech team for their continuous business and financial support as well as mentoring. With the help of Agrytech, Startchy was able to validate and iterate their business model.
Future Agro Challenge 2018-2019
At the end of the celebration Berytech launched for the second year in a row the Future Agro Challenge 2018-2019 giving the opportunity for a Lebanese startup to gain the title Lebanese Agripreneur of the year 2018-2019 and then compete on an international level within the Global Agripreneur Summit.