The Darwazah Center for Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (DC) at the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (OSB), American University of Beirut (AUB) and SPARK (https://spark.ngo/), a leading Netherland-based youth-oriented economic development international non-governmental organization (NGO) signed an agreement (valued at around $150,000+) on March 15, 2023 for a partnership titled AUB-SPARK Scaling-up of Startups Program – The SSS Program (pronounced “triple S”).
SPARK chose AUB-DC through a competitive RFP (request for proposal) on “Innovation that scales the startup ecosystem in the Mediterranean Countries,” funded by the European Union (https://spark.ngo/startup-ecosystem-stakeholders-met-in-amman/). The umbrella initiative is extensive and aims to support a broad range of activities to strengthen innovation and startup ecosystems in Lebanon and other Mediterranean Countries (Jordan, Syria, and Tunisia). The AUB-SPARK partnership, The SSS Program, targets select late-stage startups, those with high growth potential and led by women, to support them in scaling up their businesses to achieve 2x or 3x growth in revenue, profit, and employment.
According to the World Bank, only 15 percent of late-stage startups (as well as small/medium-size enterprises) globally have the adequate management capacity to innovate and grow beyond their immediate market due to gaps in their skills in strategy, human resources, finance, marketing, sales, negotiation, and product design/management. Before the recent crisis, startups in Lebanon had begun to flourish by offering innovations in business model, product, supply chain, creative, and clean technology. Unfortunately, only a few of these startups have survived the crisis and are now in dire need of improving their management capacity to continue innovating and scaling up their ventures.
In fact, Dr. Azad, director of the Darwazah Center, said, “This is where the AUB-SPARK SSS Program can make a difference. A pillar of our past work at the Darwazah Center has been to intimately understand and solve the scaling-up pains of late-stage startups. We have successfully helped key firms overcome their growth barriers in Jordan, and now we proudly roll up our sleeves to help late-stage startups in Lebanon with the support of our partner SPARK and the funding by EU.”
The SSS Program will start immediately, and the first step will be the process of competitively selecting ten high-growth potential, late-stage startups through a systematic outreach, recruitment, and selection program. Second, there will be an extensive assessment of their critical needs for capacity building to help them scale up. Third, their needs will be translated into a customized management capacity building program in needed areas. In the final phase of the program, the selected late-stage startups will attend capacity building workshops as well as tailored one-on-one mentoring/advising sessions, then each will develop its own Innovative Venture Scaling Up and Growth Plans. The expectation of this one-year initiative is for these firms to start executing their plans immediately as a condition of being admitted in the program. The SSS Program will also assist the firms to raise funds by becoming more investment ready.
“Partnering with SPARK is an excellent opportunity for the Darwazah Center, OSB, and AUB to tap into our practical venture building and scaling up know-how to strengthen the local startups ecosystem for innovation, and increase employment opportunities in Lebanon,” concluded Dr. Azad.
About the Darwazah Center
The establishment of Samih Darwazah Center for Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at AUB’s OSB was made possible in 2011 through a generous gift by the Darwazah family, founders of the largest MENA-based pharmaceutical company with global reach – HIKMA Pharmaceuticals (https://www.hikma.com/) headquartered in Jordan and listed in the London Stock Exchange. The Darwazah Center’s mission is to transform entrepreneurial thinking and practices within the MENA region and help organizations become innovative.