In a region where summers are growing hotter and water is becoming scarcer, one Lebanese startup is looking 4,000 years into the past to find answers, and turning them into a thriving business.  

Meet OyaWay , the first company to bring oyas, ancient clay irrigation pots, to the Lebanese and broader MENA market. The concept is elegantly simple: a porous ceramic vessel buried near a plant’s roots slowly releases water directly into the soil through osmosis, delivering exactly what the plant needs, when it needs it, with near-zero waste from evaporation or surface runoff.  

The result? Up to 70% less water used, and plants that thrive on their own, without daily attention from their owners  

70%  

water saved vs. conventional irrigation  

4,000  

years of proven irrigation history behind the oya technique  

1st  

company to market oyas in Lebanon and the region  

The Problem Worth Solving  

Watering plants and gardens sounds simple enough. But for millions of households and businesses across Lebanon and the wider MENA region, it is anything but. Between the fear of over or underwatering, the daily time commitment, and the mounting anxiety of water shortages during peak summer months, many people end up either neglecting their plants or wasting precious water in the process.  

OyaWay’s founders identified this friction and responded not by reinventing the wheel, but by reviving and updating one of humanity’s most time-tested inventions. Their clay oyas, manufactured locally, act as underground reservoirs. Buried at the root level, water slowly and consistently seep through their micropores into the surrounding soil. Plants draw moisture only when they need it, with watering taking place over 5 to 10 days on average.   

“Oyas provide both households and businesses with an easy, convenient, and hassle-free watering system that allows plants to take just the right amount of water, only when needed”.  

— Paul Samaha, Founder  

From Selection to Acceleration: OyaWay’s Journey Inside ScaleSmart  

OyaWay was selected as one of only four startups to join the third batch of ScaleSmart, Berytech’s competitive pre-investment acceleration program designed to help growth-stage companies become investment-ready.   

Since joining, OyaWay has been immersed in an intensive, structured program that spans financial modeling, marketing strategy, governance, fundraising, and product development, all tailored to the unique realities of each startup.  

December 2025
Application & Outreach  

OyaWay applied to ScaleSmart Batch 3 following Berytech’s outreach events including the Raise Smart Webinar and the Meet the Sharks event.  

January 2026  
Due Diligence & Selection  

After passing due diligence checks and ScaleSmart interviews as a Top 10 candidate, OyaWay was selected into the final cohort of four startups.  

February 2026  
Induction & Needs Assessment  

OyaWay completed its online induction with the ScaleSmart team, submitted a self-assessment, and began one-on-one needs assessment clinics with the Investment Unit.  

February – April 2026  
Workshops & Expert Clinics  

Intensive workshops in financial modeling & valuation, marketing & growth hacking, and personalized clinics in product optimization and growth strategy with external industry experts.  

May – June 2026  
Fundraising, Governance & Pitching  

Workshops and clinics in fundraising roadmap, sales strategy, governance for scaling, and now pitching, with the demo day approaching.  

What OyaWay Is Building Right Now  

Being first to market always comes with a particular challenge: you must educate your audience before you can sell to them. Very few people in Lebanon, let alone the wider MENA region, have heard of oyas, and OyaWay’s team is acutely aware of this. A significant focus of their work inside ScaleSmart is figuring out the right strategies to raise awareness and bring a genuinely unfamiliar product into the mainstream.

“What works, says Paul, founder, is word of mouth - which allowed us to secure deals with offices, restaurants, and guest houses. In the end, both businesses and households face the same watering challenges”. 

Challenges Faced, Current Focus, and ScaleSmart’s Support   

One of OyaWay’s biggest priorities upon entering ScaleSmart was gaining a thorough understanding of its finances and validating its multi-year sales projections with confidence. Today, the team is focused on raising awareness in a first-to-market category while scoping the operational needs to establish its own oya manufacturing unit. Through ScaleSmart, OyaWay is also building a solid growth strategy with concrete KPIs to measure success and strengthen its readiness for future investors.  

The Vision  

Looking ahead, OyaWay envisions sustainable growth through investor partnerships and continuous product innovation for households and businesses across the MENA region.  

On the operational side, OyaWay is also working toward establishing its own manufacturing unit, a move that would allow greater quality control, scalability, and cost efficiency as demand grows. It is an ambitious goal that the ScaleSmart program is helping them plan for methodically.  

Why This Matters Beyond the Business  

Lebanon faces one of the most acute water stress challenges in the world. As climate change intensifies summer droughts and public water infrastructure remains unreliable, solutions that drastically reduce water consumption are not just commercially interesting; they are genuinely necessary. OyaWay’s product sits at the rare intersection of ecological responsibility, cultural heritage, and practical everyday utility.  

Looking Ahead 

As ScaleSmart Batch 3 heads into its final stretch, OyaWay is preparing to take their growth further with exposure, networking, and opportunities at upcoming ScaleSmart matchmaking and investment events. But their ambition stretches beyond:   

The team aspires to use ScaleSmart’s offerings to establish OyaWay as the definitive name in sustainable irrigation across MENA, continuously innovating their product for both households and businesses, and building the kind of investor-backed foundation that turns a first-mover advantage into lasting market leadership.  

“We want to leverage ScaleSmart’s mentorship, resources and network connections to set OyaWay on the path for healthy growth through strong partnerships, and to innovate our offerings for both households and businesses in the MENA region.”  

–  OyaWay Team  

Follow OyaWay’s journey on Instagram and LinkedIn, and explore their full product range at oyaway.com.  

The post Ancient Wisdom, Modern Impact: OyaWay Brings a 4,000-Year-Old Solution to the MENA’s Water Crisis  appeared first on Berytech.

This year’s edition welcomes 14 startups working across agrifood and cleantech technologies. For the first time, they will progress through much of the program as one cohort, learning side by side while continuing to receive the specialized support each venture needs to grow within its own field. 

Over the next six months, participating startups will follow an intensive acceleration program designed to help them validate their solutions, strengthen their business models, and prepare for growth. Through workshops, technical clinics, one-on-one mentorship, business coaching, and hands-on guidance, founders will be supported every step of the way. Following the acceleration phase, selected startups will continue into a four-month incubation phase, receiving additional support to further develop and commercialize their innovations. 

While each team faces its own technical and market-specific challenges, many of the entrepreneurial skills needed to build a successful business are shared. More importantly, this approach reflects the way innovation increasingly happens today. Agrifood startups are increasingly looking to technologies that improve resource efficiency, reduce waste, optimize production, and strengthen sustainability. At the same time, many cleantech solutions find their greatest impact when applied to real challenges faced by industries such as agrifood. 

Bringing these entrepreneurs together creates opportunities that go beyond sharing the same workshops. It allows founders to learn from different perspectives, discover unexpected synergies, and challenge one another’s thinking, while continuing to benefit from tailored guidance that responds to their unique technologies, markets, and stage of growth. The result is a richer learning experience that combines the strength of a shared entrepreneurial foundation with the depth of sector-specific expertise. 

Throughout the program, participants will also gain access to Berytech’s wider network of mentors, investors, industry experts, corporate partners, and innovation stakeholders. Along the way, they’ll build valuable connections, strengthen their market readiness, and gain exposure to local and international ecosystems that can help open doors to partnerships, funding opportunities, and new markets long after the program comes to an end. 

The selected startups represent a diverse range of solutions tackling some of today’s most pressing challenges across agrifood and cleantech. Over the coming months, they will work closely with Berytech and its network of partners to transform promising ideas into scalable businesses with the potential to create lasting economic and environmental impact. 

“An accelerator isn’t just about helping startups move faster. It’s about exposing founders to the right people, the right questions, and sometimes the unexpected conversations that completely change the way they think. This edition isn’t simply about combining two programs. It’s about intentionally creating the kind of environment where different experiences collide, assumptions are challenged, and innovation happens in ways you can’t plan for.” 

• Elise Sfeir, Program Manager 

As the Agrytech Accelerator enters its eighth edition and the Clyntech Accelerator reaches its fifth, this joint cohort marks an exciting new chapter for both programs. By bringing together entrepreneurs working on complementary challenges while preserving the specialized support that defines each accelerator, Berytech continues to build an innovation ecosystem where stronger businesses, and stronger solutions, can grow together. 

Meet the selected startups  

From pollination drones to recycled fabric fibers, the fourteen startups below show just how wide-ranging agrifood and cleantech innovation can be. Each one brings a different idea and market, but they all share the same goal: building a sustainable, scalable business. 

• Beaver: An educational construction system using wooden bars, reusable connectors, and a child-safe cutter to help kids build real structures from their own ideas, sustainably. 

• BeeBot: An autonomous pollination drone using AI flower detection to support orchards during critical bloom periods, reducing labor dependency and pollen waste. 

• Eggs with Benefits: A Lebanese agrifood brand producing organic, nutrient-enriched free-range eggs (Omega-3, Vitamins A & E) with no antibiotics or hormones. 

• Fotra: A biotech startup growing edible and medicinal mushrooms indoors, with a long-term vision of mycelium-based materials for construction and furniture. 

• FullFarm: A mobile app that digitizes livestock farm management, replacing paper tracking with digital cow profiles, milk production logs, and smart health reminders. 

• Krich: Biotech that converts poultry feather waste into high-value keratin-based ingredients for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. 

• Lebotanica: A Bekaa Valley agritech venture turning crops and by-products into oils, extracts, and skincare goods through regenerative farming and in-house processing. 

• Nawah: A smart food scanning platform that gives instant, personalized health scores by analyzing nutrition, additives, and allergens. 

• Nexora: A cleantech startup converting post-consumer PET waste into recycled Polyfloss fibers, a sustainable alternative to virgin polyester filling. 

• Ovitech: An agritech startup with a proprietary device for controlled artificial impregnation of sheep. 

• Sapore Del Sud: A circular olive oil venture in Deir Mimas producing EVOO, olives, and soap, while converting byproducts into eco-friendly fuel briquettes. 

• SIMAR: A traceability platform connecting verified local producers directly with restaurants and retailers via lab-tested, QR-coded digital records. 

• Tenue: An AI-powered digital closet and stylist app that reduces impulse buying by matching new purchases against your existing wardrobe. 

• Tiny Tummy: A virtual restaurant delivering fresh, ready-to-eat meals designed for infants and toddlers, via cloud kitchens and subscriptions. 

The post One cohort, two accelerators: Berytech launches a special joint edition of the Agrytech and Clyntech Accelerators  appeared first on Berytech.

Some startups scale their product; others scale their vision. Awfarli did something rarer: it scaled its purpose, evolving from a consumer app into technology that now sits inside Lebanon’s Ministry of Economy and Trade. 

When Hussein joined ScaleSmart as part of an early Berytech cohort, Awfarli was a functioning mobile app with a clear mission: help Lebanese consumers compare supermarket prices, make smarter purchasing decisions, and navigate an economic landscape where price transparency was sorely lacking. The app worked, the need was real, but a bigger question remained: what kind of company could Awfarli truly become? 

A year later, that question has a remarkable answer. Awfarli’s technology and learnings have been woven into the broader innovation work of HTech, its holding company, and the platform now powers a dashboard used by Lebanon’s Ministry of Economy and Trade, following the signing of a formal Memorandum of Understanding. What began as a consumer price tracker has become part of the country’s public-sector infrastructure for market transparency. 

Where It All Started 

By the time Awfarli entered ScaleSmart, it was not a prototype or an idea, it was a live product. The app and its accompanying analytics dashboard were fully operational, the market need had been validated, and the team had built genuine technology to address price opacity in Lebanon’s retail sector. 

The challenge was never about proving the problem existed, it was about direction. As Hussein explains, the team was already thinking beyond the consumer app, sensing that the real value of what they had built extended to businesses, institutions, and policymakers. ScaleSmart came at exactly the right moment to help them structure that next phase with rigor and strategic clarity. 

When they joined ScaleSmart 

• PA validated consumer app looking for its next chapter 

• Live mobile app and analytics dashboard 

• Proven need for price transparency 

• Focused on consumer downloads and user activity 

• Business model not yet fully structured 

• Potential for institutional use unexplored 

One year later 

• A data platform embedded in national infrastructure 

• Technology deployed at the Ministry of Economy 

• MoU signed through holding company HTech 

• Repositioned as a market transparency & data platform 

• Clear revenue streams, unit economics, and stakeholder value 

• Integrated into HTech’s public-sector innovation work 

The Shift That Changed Everything 

Inside ScaleSmart, the most important transformation was not operational, it was conceptual. The program pushed Hussein and his team to move past vanity metrics and think more seriously about the fundamentals: revenue streams, unit economics, long-term sustainability, and, crucially, who the real stakeholders of a price transparency platform actually are. 

The answer that emerged reshaped everything. Awfarli was not just useful to individual shoppers making decisions at the supermarket aisle. Its data, infrastructure, and analytical capabilities were potentially far more valuable to businesses benchmarking competition, and to government institutions trying to monitor, regulate, and protect consumers at scale. 

“The program pushed us to think beyond downloads and user activity, and to focus more seriously on revenue streams, unit economics, stakeholder value, and long-term sustainability.” 

Hussein, Founder, Awfarli / HTech 

This reframing, from “price comparison app” to “market transparency and data-driven platform”, opened an entirely different category of opportunity. Within a year, it led directly to the most significant milestone in the company’s history. 

From Startup to State Partnership 

The MoU with Lebanon’s Ministry of Economy and Trade is more than a commercial win. It is a validation that the problem Awfarli set out to solve, the lack of price transparency in Lebanon’s consumer market, is recognized at the highest levels of government as a structural, national challenge. What began as a tool for consumers is now helping policymakers monitor market dynamics and protect consumers at scale. 

MoU 

signed with Lebanon’s Ministry of Economy and Trade through HTech 

Live 

dashboard actively used by the Ministry for market transparency 

HTech 

holding company now integrating Awfarli into broader public-sector innovation work 

This evolution reflects a broader thesis that ScaleSmart helped crystallize: the most durable tech businesses in Lebanon are not those that chase the consumer market alone, but those that build infrastructure, data, platforms, and systems that governments, businesses, and institutions are willing to depend on. Awfarli, it turned out, had been building exactly that, without yet fully realizing it. 

Advice for the Next Founder Walking Through the Door 

When asked what he would tell a founder considering applying to ScaleSmart, Hussein did not lead with the workshops or the network: 

“Join only if you are ready to be challenged. ScaleSmart is not only useful for improving your pitch or business plan, it pushes you to question the fundamentals of your startup, your model, your growth path, and the way you communicate your value. Enter the program with an open mind, be honest about what is not working, and use the feedback to sharpen both the business and the vision.” 

For Awfarli, that process produced something concrete: a technology platform now embedded in Lebanon’s public-sector infrastructure, a holding company with institutional credibility, and a founder who understands the difference between building a product and building a platform with real, lasting impact. 

The post From App to National Infrastructure: How Awfarli Grew Beyond Its Own Vision  appeared first on Berytech.

For many startups, intellectual property (IP) protection feels like a faraway step, something to worry about after growth or investment. But as Fouad El Saddi explains, protecting your innovation starts much earlier than most founders think.

“IP protection begins the moment research and development begin,” El Saddi says. “At that stage, what matters most is keeping your ideas confidential until they’re ready for protection.” He breaks down IP protection into stages that evolve with your business.

1. Early Stage: Confidentiality First

Before anything else, protect your ideas from leaking. “Founders should start with NDAs and confidentiality agreements, with each other, employees, freelancers, and suppliers,” El Saddi advises. Avoid public disclosures in events, competitions, or on social media. Once something is made public, you lose the right to protect it, it becomes part of the public domain.

2. Pre-Launch: Patents and Trade Secrets

If your solution involves a technical innovation, a new formula, or an inventive process, you may be eligible for a patent. “File a patent before seeking investment or launching commercially,” El Saddi stresses. “It gives your startup more value and credibility.” For sectors like agrifood, where the innovation may lie in a recipe or production method, secrecy is often the smarter route. Keep such knowledge as a trade secret, safeguarded through strong NDAs and internal confidentiality processes.

3. Company Registration: Securing Your Brand Identity

Once your entity is legally established, protect your name.

“A trademark covers your brand identity, the name, logo, or product line,” El Saddi explains. “You should check its availability before printing packaging or going to market.”
Trademark registration typically happens at or just before commercial launch, ensuring your brand cannot be used or copied by others.

4. Growth Stage: Design and Presentation

As your product evolves, industrial design protection may apply. This covers the look and feel of a product, the shape of a bottle, the form of a package, or an ornamental design that distinguishes it. “Industrial design protection applies to how your product looks, not how it works,” El Saddi notes.

5. Scaling and Expansion: Creative and Digital Assets

Finally, your content, manuals, visuals, and software are protected under copyright. “Everything you create as a human, text, graphics, software, user manuals, is automatically protected by copyright,” El Saddi says. While copyright registration isn’t mandatory, it strengthens your legal position in disputes, especially as your brand starts producing more digital and creative assets.

The Takeaway

IP isn’t one step, it’s a layered process that grows with your startup. Start with confidentiality, move toward patents or trade secrets, then secure your trademark, designs, and creative outputs as your company matures.

As El Saddi puts it, “Every stage has its own protection tools, but the sooner you think about IP, the stronger your business foundation becomes.”

The post From Idea to Market: When and How to Protect Your Innovation appeared first on Berytech.

The selection followed a competitive pitching round, during which more than 26 startups presented their ideas before a jury of internal and external experts. The chosen teams have now embarked on a multi-month journey designed to strengthen their technical and entrepreneurial capacity, from validating their solutions to refining their market approach.

Building Collaboration and Design Thinking from Day One

The program kicked off in October 2025 with a three-day Design Thinking Bootcamp, marking the first activity for the newly selected founders. The immersive experience was designed to help teams connect, build trust, and establish a foundation of collaboration, both among themselves and with the Berytech team supporting their growth.

Throughout the sessions, participants explored the core stages of design thinking: understanding users and stakeholders, identifying the core beliefs shaping their ideas, transforming these into hypotheses, and testing them through rapid prototyping. By the end of the three days, each team had developed a validated concept and a clear roadmap to guide their next steps, from refining their solutions to preparing for the following stages of their startup journey.

This early emphasis on team cohesion and structured experimentation set the tone for the months ahead, fostering a shared spirit of openness, creativity, and purposeful collaboration across the cohort.

A Multi-Phase Learning Experience

Since the bootcamp, the startups have moved into a structured learning journey covering a wide range of topics, from product planning, and business modeling, to legal frameworks and go-to-market strategy.

Rather than one-off sessions, most topics are explored through a series of interconnected workshops and one-on-one sessions, allowing experts to follow up with the teams, ensure progress, and help them apply each concept directly to their projects.

In the coming weeks, the program will expand to include sessions such as sustainability and environmental impact assessment, cost structure and breakeven analysis, and financial planning, topics that will help participants translate their technical innovations into viable, scalable business models.

Bridging Technical Expertise and Entrepreneurial Skills

This kind of ongoing, applied learning is particularly valuable in the clean technology sector, where many founders come from scientific and engineering backgrounds. While their technical expertise is a strong foundation, the path from invention to market success also requires skills in communication, leadership, and business strategy.

Clyntech’s approach helps bridge this gap. The workshops are designed not just to teach business fundamentals but to develop the soft skills that turn technical specialists into entrepreneurs, enabling founders to communicate their impact, attract investment, and collaborate effectively with partners and stakeholders.

Accelerating the Path from Prototype to Market

All these workshops are delivered as part of the accelerator phase, which will run over the next 6 months. During this period, startups will also receive one-on-one support to develop their prototypes, reach their Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), and strengthen their business models as they prepare to enter the market.

At the end of this 6-month phase, eight startups will be selected to join an additional 4-month incubation program, where they will continue refining their technologies, deepening their market validation, and scaling toward commercialization.

By combining intensive capacity building with personalized mentorship, the Clyntech Accelerator continues to empower Lebanon’s clean technology entrepreneurs to turn scientific innovation into practical, market-ready solutions that drive environmental and economic impact

The post The Clyntech Accelerator Launches Its Fourth Batch appeared first on Berytech.

In the world of entrepreneurship, great ideas are abundant, but memorable pitches are rare. According to Georges Diab, Entrepreneurship and Pitching Specialist, the difference between a strong pitch and a forgettable one often has little to do with the business model itself. 

1. It’s About Storytelling, Not Slides 

A strong pitch doesn’t just present a product; it tells a story. Founders who can translate their idea into a clear, human narrative, from the problem they’ve witnessed to the solution they’ve built, stand out immediately. 

As Diab puts it, “Investors connect with people, not with numbers. When you turn your pitch into a story, you move from explaining a business to inspiring belief in a vision.” The best founders craft their pitches like storytellers: structured, emotional, and purposeful. They guide listeners through the journey rather than overwhelm them with data. 

2. Depth of Understanding Builds Trust 

While storytelling draws investors in, it’s deep business understanding that keeps them there. Strong founders don’t just repeat their financials; they own them. They understand the mechanisms behind their growth, their market, and their scalability model, and can communicate that fluently. 

“Knowing your numbers isn’t just about showing credibility,” Diab explains. “It’s about proving that you understand how your business actually works and how it can evolve.” 

3. Authenticity Over Performance 

Perhaps the most overlooked ingredient is authenticity. Founders who approach investors as human beings, not judges, create genuine connection. 
“When you realize that pitching isn’t about selling, but about sharing something meaningful, everything shifts,” Diab says. “You stop performing and start communicating.” 

At its core, a memorable pitch isn’t about perfection, it’s about clarity, confidence, and connection. Investors aren’t just funding businesses; they’re backing people who believe in their stories enough to make them real. 

The post Beyond the Business Model: What Truly Sets a Strong Pitch Apart  appeared first on Berytech.

Through this collaboration, Berytech startups and SMEs will gain access to NetCommerce’s secure, fast, and easy online payment infrastructure, including payment links, online checkout options, and multi-currency and real-time credit card transaction validation. This partnership will help participating companies reduce their reliance on cash, facilitate exports, and open new avenues for cross-border transactions.

The benefits for our community include:
– Preferential rates and fees exclusively offered to Berytech-affiliated companies, to incentivize adoption and reduce cost barriers
– A digital channel that enables safe and secure online payments, enhancing trust and accessibility for both local and international clients
– Seamless integration with trusted financial institutions, ensuring reliability and compliance with international standards

During the launch event, NetCommerce’s CEO, Elias Azzam, together with his team, presented the platform and demonstrated its main features to participating startups and SMEs, highlighting how such tools can transform their sales and export operations.

This partnership reflects Berytech’s continued commitment to equipping our community with digital infrastructure that drives growth, competitiveness, and financial inclusion.

The post Berytech Partners with NetCommerce to Empower Digital Trade appeared first on Berytech.

In marketing, the principles rarely change, only the platforms do. For John Tebaa, effective digital marketing isn’t about luck or big budgets. It’s about clarity, persistence, and knowing how to make the system work for you.

“Marketing never really differs between one product and another,” Tebaa explains. “When people have a need, and your product offers real value, your job is to let them know it solves that need.”

1. From Value to Visibility

The key, he says, is to shift focus from selling a product to selling a solution. “If you’re not solving a problem, you’re not selling,” he emphasizes. Once people recognize their problem in your message, they’ll naturally want to hear how you can solve it.

2. Master the Algorithm, Don’t Fight It

Tebaa views social media platforms not as obstacles but as amplifiers, if you understand their logic. “The algorithm isn’t against you,” he says. “If your message is clear and relevant, it will deliver it to the people who need it.”

He points out that the best-performing formats today, short videos like Reels and Stories, reward content that’s shared, especially when engagement happens beyond the platform. The algorithm notices that and boosts it automatically.

3. Test, Learn, and Scale

Unlike traditional advertising, digital marketing gives you freedom to experiment without heavy investment. “We can always test and validate,” Tebaa notes. “Once you have one good piece of content that performs well, you can scale it up.”

This cycle of testing and refining allows marketers to learn fast and adjust based on real feedback, not assumptions.

4. Build Networks That Amplify

Growth isn’t only about algorithms; it’s also about people. Tebaa highlights the importance of community and collaboration: “If you know how to build good networks, you can use those networks to push your content further. Every share expands your reach.”

5. Consistency Wins

Finally, he insists that results come through steady effort. Digital visibility is a process, not a moment. “As long as you keep creating, adapting, and staying consistent,” he says, “the growth will happen.”

In the end, Tebaa’s approach demystifies digital marketing. It’s not about hacking the algorithm, it’s about understanding it, working with it, and letting persistence turn clarity into momentum.

The post Cracking the Code: How to Make the Algorithm Work for You appeared first on Berytech.

There is a growing understanding across Lebanon’s economic and innovation landscape: the country’s most pressing challenges won’t be solved by surface-level fixes. Across energy, agriculture, and waste, short-term responses may have eased immediate pressures but have fallen short of addressing the deeper systemic challenges. Real progress demands going beyond systems to transform underlying systems that either enable or obstruct sustainable development.  

That’s precisely what Lebanon Clusters 2025 set out to address. By bringing together over 150 stakeholders from the public and private sectors, academia and civil society, the convening didn’t just celebrate collaboration and circularity, it challenged everyone to critically examine how systems work today, and how they could work better, together. 

At the center of that shift in thinking is the role of clusters: collaborative ecosystems built around shared value, circular thinking, and long-term competitiveness. A proven model worldwide, clusters are now taking on new relevance in shaping Lebanon’s path toward sustainable growth. 

Clusters as a Response to Structural Problems 

In his keynote address, Mr. Nehmat Frem, President and CEO of INDEVCO Group and Member of the Parliament of Lebanon, set the tone by calling for a deeper, more courageous kind of reform. He reminded the audience that Lebanon’s challenges, like the enduring waste crisis, are not short-term obstacles but long-standing structural issues that cannot be solved with temporary fixes. These problems, he argued, demand systemic responses rooted in shared responsibility and long-term thinking. 

That same logic applies across sectors: 

• Agrifood, where small producers remain disconnected from innovation, markets, and one another. 

• Energy, where sustainable alternatives are still under-leveraged. 

• Waste, where valorization is the exception, not the norm. 

• Clusters offer a way forward, not as short term interventions, but as permanent structures for transformation. 

Why Clusters? Why Now? 

Lebanon Clusters 2025 made a timely case for scaling cluster development across sectors, by demonstrating what clusters can achieve when fully activated: 

1. They reinforce resilience through collaboration. 

Clusters bring together industries, researchers, and service providers, fostering coordination and shared purpose that strengthen the wider economic landscape. 

2. They activate cross-sector circularity. 

Clusters move beyond vertical silos. Waste becomes input, energy circulates more efficiently, and food systems plug directly into innovation. Circularity becomes practical, not conceptual. 

3. They formalize what often remains informal. 

Clusters transform sporadic partnerships to intentional, governed ecosystems, the very backbone needed for systems to evolve. 

From Vision to Infrastructure 

What made Lebanon Clusters 2025 stand out was not simply the what of collaboration, but the how behind organizing and sustaining it. 

During a fireside chat moderated by Mr. Nicolas Farhat, Deputy General Manager at Berytech, panelists explored both global and local perspectives. Mr. Alejandro Gallego Alcaide, Director of International Business at AMEC, shared international best practices, while Dr. Marc Bou Zeidan, Executive Director of QOOT, grounded the discussion in Lebanon’s agrifood context. The takeaway was clear: clusters succeed only when shaped by real sector needs, not imposed from above. 

That same thread continued in the session on organizational models, where Ms. Lara Khoury, Director of Programs at Berytech, unpacked differences among chambers, syndicates, associations, and clusters. She emphasized that clusters should be positioned not as another network but as adaptable, forward-thinking engines of innovation and competitiveness. 

In the policy and legal session, Ms. Jessica Hajjar, Programs Manager at Berytech, and Maître Julien Khoury, Intellectual Property Specialist, made a strong case for official cluster recognition. Their intervention reinforced a central truth: if clusters are to become genuine economic infrastructure, they require legal clarity, policy integration, and long-term commitment. 

The event also showcased the tangible progress made by Lebanon’s emerging clusters, particularly in waste valorization and sustainable energy. 

Ms. Ingrid Salloum, Manager of QEEMA, highlighted how the Waste Valorization Cluster is connecting key industry players to transform waste challenges into circular economy opportunities. 

Mr. Youssef Yammine, Manager of the Sustainable Energy Cluster, emphasized energy’s pivotal role in enabling circularity across sectors and driving Lebanon’s green transition. 

Not a Celebration, a Realignment 

Building on these examples, Lebanon Clusters 2025 marked a decisive shift from isolated initiatives to a coordinated future, one where actors such as QEEMA, the Sustainable Energy Cluster, QOOT, and Euromed Clusters Forward work in sync to build new cycles of shared value. 

The presence of Euromed Clusters Forward, which also brought perspectives from Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, added a valuable layer of regional exchange, showing how Lebanon’s emerging cluster ecosystem is part of a wider Mediterranean effort toward innovation-driven circularity. 

Together, Lebanon’s three clusters form interconnected pillars of the country’s circular economy: QEEMA drives waste valorization and resource recovery, the Sustainable Energy Cluster advances renewable solutions and efficiency, and QOOT fosters innovation across the agrifood value chain. Their convergence demonstrates how cross-sector collaboration can unlock new business models and shared economic value. 

A Quiet but Fundamental Shift 

If Lebanon’s past is a story of brilliant individuals and initiatives, its future must be built on coherence, structure, and systems that can hold together through change. 

Clusters don’t promise overnight transformation, but they do offer something far more powerful: a stable platform for long-term, circular progress, where innovation is not just invented, but embedded. 

Because at the end of the day, progress begins not with new ideas, but with how we organize the ones we already have. 

Next Steps & Acknowledgment 

This event was held under the patronage of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, with the support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the European Union. 

To explore collaboration opportunities with any of the clusters, interested partners are invited to fill out the collaboration interest form:  

Learn more at www.qeema.org , www.secluster.org, and www.qoot.org. 

The post From Fragmentation to Function: Why Clusters Matter Now More Than Ever in Lebanon  appeared first on Berytech.

A Strong Start

The seventh batch launched earlier this year with eleven promising startups selected for the Acceleration Phase. Over this period, the entrepreneurs worked intensively to strengthen their Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), refine their business strategies, and validate their market potential.

The program included hundreds of one-on-one sessions with coaches and experts covering product development, finance, go-to-market strategizing, and business planning. In addition, the startups engaged in specialized workshops on design thinking, customer validation, legal, finance, market entry, soft skills and pitching.

Beyond the formal sessions, the teams also joined pitch nights and huddles, relaxed networking evenings with peers, mentors, and industry experts, giving founders a chance to test their ideas, build confidence, and expand their networks.

Moving into Incubation

At the end of the acceleration phase, the startups pitched their progress before a jury of Berytech team members and external business, technical, and finance experts. Based on growth potential, scalability, and sector impact, seven startups were selected to move forward into the incubation phase:

• Aquavita – Innovative aquaculture farming system for the production of Red Tilapia fish by recycling rainwater and microbial waste-to-protein conversion, doubling yields of traditional systems while conserving water.
• 2XPND – Reinventing snacks using an innovative extraction process and a single-ingredient. They produce a protein-rich expanded cheese snack without any additives.
• Peatler (Cultiva) – Transforming banana plant residues into a banana peat, which is a biofertilizer enhanced with nanotechnology that boosts yield and minimizes the use of chemical fertilizers. .
• Honeylicious Treats – Creating 100% pure honey powder through freeze-drying technology, offering a natural low-glycemic sugar alternative.
• AgriSmart – AI-powered WhatsApp chatbot acting as a virtual agricultural consultant with subscription-based services.
• Farming Bee – Breeding resilient queen bees via artificial insemination and natural mating to strengthen honey production.
• Elma’s – Producing Black Soldier Fly Larvae feed as a soy alternative while turning organic waste into compost.

The Road Ahead

These seven startups will now embark on the four-month Incubation Phase, where they will receive more advanced support to refine their products, scale operations, and prepare for market launch and attract investment. The phase includes targeted workshops, deeper one-on-one mentoring, and continued access to Berytech’s resources and partner networks.

“What inspires me most in the Agrytech Accelerator is the dedication of our teams, from the youngest founders to the most experienced entrepreneurs, all driven by a thirst for learning and a passion to grow their innovations in the agrifood sector despite all the uncertainties around them.”,” Ghiwa Daccache, Programs coordinator.

About Agrytech

Berytech designed and developed the Agrytech Accelerator Program to ensure Lebanon remains at the forefront of agrifood innovation. Launched in partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Lebanon, the program supports startups across food, agriculture, and cleantech, offering up to $100K in funding and resources to help them scale and expand internationally.

The post Agrytech Accelerator Batch 7: Seven Startups Advance to the Incubation Phase appeared first on Berytech.