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IGNITE's Fashion & Design Chapter is happening for the 1^st time on the 26^th of November co-organized in a joint effort between Endeavor Lebanon and Beirut Digital District (BDD), in collaboration with the Starch Foundation. The focus of this IGNITE Chapter  will be on scaling fashion and design businesses, and how to leverage technology to grow.

The IGNITE initiative by Endeavor Lebanon and BDD aims to strengthen entrepreneurial bonds in the ecosystem and build bridges between entrepreneurs and industry experts to set the stage for future growth and acceleration.

A highly renowned roster of entrepreneurs and industry leaders will be gathered during the event to engage in insightful discussions; they will share their journeys to success, reveal how they reached to where and who they are today, as well as give out their advice to overcoming failures.

Meet the speakers participating at IGNITE:

Rabih Kayrouz

Rabih was born in 1973, in Lebanon. He studied at the Chambre Syndicale de la couture Parisienne between 1991 - 1994. Attracted by the booming energy of his country, he returned to Beirut. In 1998, he established Maison Rabih Kayrouz, where during ten years, he created exceptional gowns for discerning women. In 2009, Rabih returned to Paris where he set up his studio at 38, boulevard Raspail, which was the Petit Théâtre de Babylone, fifty years earlier. He surrounded himself with the best french artisans in order to create his luxury ready to-wear. In 2013, Rabih Kayrouz was nominated as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Rabih still develops his ready-to-wear collection around the world.

Edward Sabbagh

As Managing Director of Farfetch’s Middle Eastern function, Edward leads the overall development of the Farfetch brand and business in the Middle East market. As well as overseeing the launches of Farfetch’s Arabic site and app, he also launched the first local office in the region and is at the helm of this Dubai-based team. Edward has an MBA and science degrees in Applied Economics and Mathematics from IESE, MIT, AUB and Concordia and has a breadth of experience in E-commerce, Marketing and Data Science from both startups and multinational companies. Edward is fluent in English, French, Arabic and Spanish.

Gonçalo Cruz

Gonçalo, 36, is the Co-founder of PLATFORME, the leading customization and made-to-order tech platform serving the high-end industry. Gonçalo is a serial entrepreneur, and an engineer with more than 14 years of experience in solving complex industrial, operational and technological problems. He is one of the few people in the world that has contributed with relevant processes and lines of code simultaneously for both LVMH and Kering groups, working closely with major super-brands. Partnerships with Gucci and Fendi are some of his most recent launches. Gonçalo is married, with three kids, and is based in Porto, Portugal.

Delphine Eddé

Delphine began her career in advertising in Paris, before branching out into digital marketing in 2000 at Tribal DDB. In 2006, she moved to Condé Nast Paris as Director of New Media, spearheading the online strategies for their leading fashion titles including Vogue.com. In 2009, Delphine moved to the Middle East where she co-founded Diwanee, a digital media company, acquired by Webedia in 2014, which then merged with Uturn Entertainment in 2018, a Saudi digital content provider and local market leader and Five Capital, a subsidiary of CDC International Capital based in Dubai and Riyadh (20m cap increase) and still active. Selected Endeavor Entrepreneur in 2012. Mother of two boys and active in women entrepreneur mentoring.

Make sure to register for tickets here as seats are limited.