Five Lebanese entrepreneurs – all part of the Agrytech accelerator program, were selected and invited to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 held from June 3-5 in the Hague, Netherlands.
Ali Makhzoum representing Lifelab , from the Agrytech accelerator Batch 1, Lara El Khoury, Kevin Boutros, Lama Antonios and Nancy Daou representing respectively Rigino, Quadra Machinery, Mushtic, and IOtree, all from batch 2, were selected and invited to attend and contribute to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 – GES 2019. They joined 1200 entrepreneurs from over 130 countries who are developing promising innovative products and services contributing to solving global social challenges in the agri-food, connectivity, energy, health and water sectors.
The Global Entrepreneurship Summit
This year, and in its ninth edition, GES 2019 welcomed 2000 global leaders in entrepreneurship, innovation, investment, science and policy, to promote entrepreneurship and contribute to major global challenges focusing on five key sectors: Agriculture and Food, Connectivity, Energy, Water and Health.
The GES 2019 program created an unparalleled opportunity for entrepreneurs, investors and partners to meet, learn and connect to support the acceleration of technological solution to produce a global impact.
During the summit, the Agrytech entrepreneurs had the opportunity to attend plenary sessions, discussions, and workshops to build new networks and encouraging new partnerships.
GES 2019 Experience – Testimonials
“The Global Entrepreneurship Summit was an ocean full of innovative ideas and knowledge” explains Nancy Daou co-founder of IoTree. She adds, “we had access to a unique mobile app enabling us to be easily connected with investors, entrepreneurs, advisors, and even to social media platforms. Their workshops were very important and valuable. We acquired a ton of information throughout the two days, we’re going to need a month to assimilate! Subsequently, we were exposed to strategic ideas pushing us to think outside the box. GES was a one-of-a-kind event, an Oscar for entrepreneurs. It was an honor for IOTree to be among the selected teams from Lebanon to participate in this event.”
On his experience, Kevin Boutros, co-founder of Quadra said: “GES 2019 was an exceptional event for Quadra Machinery. We attended informative agro-food conferences, got exposed to promising leads from high level entities such as FAO and the US Government, and met with Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag!”
As for RiginO, Lara El Khoury had this to say on her experience at GES, “Being surrounded by so many entrepreneurs and field experts at GES was very enriching. The workshops and networking sessions allowed for a natural and beneficial flow of information all while enjoying the best Dutch hospitality!”
Lebanese startups at GES 2019
IOTRee is a smart device based on machine learning and artificial intelligence. It captures and detects harmful flies. It also notifies the farmer via the mobile app about when/where to intervene and which is the best agricultural practice to use.
RiginO is a platform enabling food chain stakeholders to log and digitalize their activities along the entire value chain. From Farm to Fork, this allows producers and manufacturers to enhance transparency.
Quadra Machinery manufactures and sells fruit sorting machines. These machines are capable of sorting different types of fruits according to international standards of size, color, and defects.
Mushtic is a natural binding process that grows layers of mycelium on top of any agricultural waste to create natural packaging material which replaces petroleum-based products such as Styrofoam.
Lifelab designs and deploys next-generation Internet of Things (IoT) indoor farming systems which use 95% less water, 75% less labor, and grow year-round without pesticides/herbicides, guesswork, or mentionable crop losses.
The Agrytech Program is a two-year program funded jointly by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Berytechaiming to source the top startups with disruptive innovations in the Agri-Food sector and provide them with the adequate technical and business resources as well as community support to scale their ideas into successful businesses with global impact.