beirut Archives - Touch Innovation Program

TIP Empowers BlocRecs: A Blockchain-Powered Academic Degree Ledger

Bitcoin might have been the media darling back during the cryptocurrency heydays, but it was the underlying technology that powered it that really caught the imagination of tech experts. Fast forward a decade, and up-and-coming entrepreneurs continue to harness its potential with innovative applications. BlocRecs, a concoction by Hanady Al Ahmadieh and Amir Abdel Bakie, uses blockchain to enable universities to issue degrees in a secure, tamper-proof, and easily shareable format. On the other side of the equation, the service also allows potential employers to instantly verify the authenticity of…

The Importance of Validating Your Startup

A scenario we constantly see with fresh and young entrepreneurs is when they get an idea that seems amazing and decide to turn it into a business. Excitedly, they put together a 5 year business plan forecasting income, profits, and cash flow. They feel good about themselves – that is until they discover the business plan they developed will not survive. More often than not, the reason behind that is that although their business plan may have been solid in theory, once they started developing their product and launched it,…

Startup Storytime: A Tale of Unicorns

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional online network with more than 106 million monthly active members. Most employers today search for applicant accounts on LinkedIn after receiving CVs. Virtual presence on LinkedIn has become a must for professionals, employers and employees alike. LinkedIn has also found its place on an academic level. In 2016, high schools in the US began teaching students to make LinkedIn accounts for college admissions. While BrainStatistics found 7 out of 10 startups fail in 10 years, LinkedIn beat the odds and survived the high-mortality period.…

Effective Sales Techniques

On Tuesday the 20th of August, Touch Lab hosted a workshop entitled ‘Effective Sales Techniques’ facilitated by Ghassan Nawfal aka. Gus, Commercial Director at Arabnet. The main focus of the workshop was to open the minds of the startups and Touch Executives on what are the simple yet most effective ways for us to tackle sales. Some highlights from the workshop: “We are all salespeople selling something and we need to accept that.” GUS’s LAW OF SALES: Need vs. Want Value Vs. Price Law of Exchange The…

Increased Corporate Appetite in the MENA Region

The MENA entrepreneurial ecosystem has been attracting global and regional attention, with an increased investor appetite and interest in the region’s startups. In terms of investment, $674 million was invested in 255 deals in 2018 with the UAE dominating the entrepreneurial activity with the highest share of investors, number of deals, and value of deals, according to Arabnet’s 4th edition of “State of Digital Investments in MENA 2013-2018” report. Recently, corporate investment has been steadily gaining traction in the MENA region, with more than a dozen companies investing strategically in…