The Beirut Traders Association Announces the Winner of the “Grow My Business” Competition – 2014 Edition, in Collaboration with the MIT Enterprise Forum – Pan Arab Region and in Partnership with Bank Audi

Beirut, October 29, 2014 -  A closing press conference was held on October 29, 2014, at Bank Audi Plaza, Bab Idriss, to announce the winning team of the fourth edition of the “Grow My Business” (GMB) competition, an initiative launched in 2011 by the Beirut Traders Association (BTA), in collaboration with the MIT Enterprise Forum – Pan Arab Region and in partnership with Bank Audi sal.

The top winning company of this year’s GMB competition is “Kitchen Confidential”, the members of which won a LBP 50,000,000 prize courtesy of Bank Audi.

This reward is the crowning achievement of a five-month competition which consisted in having a selection of Lebanese companies develop plans for their businesses to grow and submit these to a jury composed of prominent figures of the BTA, of the MIT Enterprise Forum – Pan Arab Region, and of Bank Audi. The top 20 candidates then underwent a workshop organised by experts in the field and university professors, and focusing on how to develop a successful business plan. After that, all 20 business plans were submitted to a qualified jury who chose the 10 best candidates and assessed them through final oral presentations, which in turn resulted in the final vote.

Mr. Nicolas Chammas, Chairman of the Beirut Traders Association, seized the opportunity to stress that, since its launch “the purpose of this competition is to give a tangible added value to small and medium-sized companies, to uplift the professional standards of the commercial sector as a whole, and to contribute to the sustainable development of the national economy.” He also pointed out that, “like in the previous years, this year’s applications continued to reflect very interesting profiles of emerging young companies and entrepreneurs in Lebanon coming from a wide array of sectors”, and that “the quality of the business plans received translated the excellent results of the high calibre workshop that was offered to semi-finalists”.

Mrs. Hala Fadel, Chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum – Pan Arab Region, added: “For the fourth year now, we have yet another successful collaboration with BTA and our supporters, Bank Audi, in promoting Lebanon’s growth and entrepreneurs. We had very innovative companies scaling internationally at a time where the local Lebanese market faces many challenges.”

As for Mr. Marc Audi, Country Manager Lebanon – Bank Audi sal, he reiterated “the Bank’s commitment to SMEs, the major engine of the Lebanese economy, and to investing in young talents who are living proof that competence is the key to success and who give true meaning to the Bank’s motto – Grow Beyond Your Potential.” He added: “The Bank’s involvement in such initiatives is an additional proof of its dedication to make every necessary effort for the development of Lebanese SMEs which are a ray of sunshine for the national economy and a key factor in its development journey.”