By Rami Shamma and Stephen Rosenlund
The Lebanese have contributed to the Middle East (and for that matter the wider world) a renowned tradition of arts and design, which was no less evident than in the Development for People and Nature Association’s (DPNA’s) fourth consecutive year of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) programming. A leading GEW partner in Lebanon and longtime CIPE partner, DPNA used this year’s celebration of entrepreneurship as an opportunity to bring its new series of “Entrepreneurship Cafés” to Beirut.
With CIPE’s support, DPNA is hosting a series of six Entrepreneurship Cafés across Lebanon to identify the priorities of young people to build a culture of entrepreneurship and reform the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Lebanon. Unlike traditional roundtable-style workshops, these events are designed to evoke the free flow of ideas, candor, and creativity of Lebanon’s café culture. Each café brings together young people from the community to discuss various dimensions of the entrepreneurship ecosystem – personal, familial, financial, legal, societal, governmental, and media – and to identify solutions to the challenges they are facing.
Much like an actual café, these events create safe space for young people to debate the toughest issues of the day with their peers in a casual atmosphere. In this case, the conversation is directed at their quest to become entrepreneurs or otherwise engage constructively in civic life and is structured so as to allow for comparative analysis. At each café, participants cycle among small groups and examine each discussion topic in turn. A small group records and leaves behind the results of its deliberations so the next group can build on them. Ultimately, DPNA will analyze the results of the entire café series in order to distill the common priorities of young Lebanese for building the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
DPNA and CIPE believe in collective efforts that lead to positive change in the community. The Entrepreneurship Cafés are thus conducted in partnership with active local organization(s) in six different locations all over Lebanon. The first Entrepreneurship Café was held in Saida, in El Moltaqa, which is a social enterprise itself, with 30 participants. The Beirut event was in collaboration with two institutions:
- hbr creative platform and design lab – an enterprise that “provides a space where design awareness and understanding of various disciplines and qualities are explored, developed, and celebrated through collaboration between creative individuals, innovative events, activities, and products”, and
- WARD – Welfare Association for Research and Development – a newly founded Lebanese NGO that works on promoting entrepreneurship education in Lebanon.
Entrepreneurship Café Beirut welcomed 34 university students and graduates and their discussions centered on the challenges and opportunities that youth face in starting their own businesses in Lebanon. Moreover, they proposed solutions involving public institutions, the private sector, and civil society. The voices from the café are clearly calling for a whole of society approach to bringing about more inclusive entrepreneurship.
In the coming weeks, DPNA will be implementing the next four Entrepreneurship Cafés in other regions of Lebanon and will be launching at a press conference the findings and solutions developed by Lebanon’s young leaders. Stay tuned to DPNA’s Facebook Page for more photos and news about the future of this exciting initiative.
Rami Shamma is Project Manager at the Development for People and Nature Association (DPNA) in Lebanon.
Stephen Rosenlund is Program Officer for the Middle East & North Africa at CIPE.
Published Date: November 25, 2014