Arabnet Arabnet

Bader is launching its Startup Cup Business Competition for the second year in a row. Kauffman Foundation originally started this worldwide program, which was later adopted by Bader for the Lebanese market with the support of Bank Audi.

StartUp Cup Business Competition aims to motivate Lebanese people with entrepreneurial ideas to present them. If their ideas are accepted, the applicants will then enter a mentorship program that will help them turn their ideas into money-making businesses. People who apply to this competition have to go through a series of selective procedures that will help the judges select 12 prospective semi-finalists.

After this point, Lebanese business leaders will act as personal business coaches and trainers for the semi-finalists. They will test their business model assumptions by linking them with future likely customers, and even facilitate the semi-finalists’ access to financing by connecting them to their business network of microfinance institutions and banks. They will also offer their advice and expertise on various aspects of the applicants’ business models, and help them deal with the most probable barriers they will meet.

After the contestants go through several rounds and phases of development and elimination over a period of 6 months, the judges will only choose 7 finalists to pitch their ideas to an eminent panel of renowned business figures. The 3 winners will finally be chosen during the Global Entrepreneurship week based on 3 main conditions: high level innovation, high scalability potential, and the high likeliness of creating new job opportunities in Lebanon.

The winners will receive over 100,000,000 LBP worth of cash and in-kind prizes such as cash, 6 months of incubation at Coworking+961, $20,000 worth of online advertising offered by Naharnet, and 50% and 33% worth of scholarships by Amideast Lebanon to attend the Start/Grow My Business Workshop.

No fees are required. No equity from the startups is taken. So apply before May 15 if your idea is for a web/mobile/technology startup, and before April 30 if your idea is for a general business startup outside the scope of technology.