Two teams took the stage last week to receive a $10,000 award each for winning the Inas Abou Ayyash Foundation (IAAF) Best Entrepreneurial Project 2018.

This year, the annual ceremony took place on Beirut campus for the first time. Taking the stage to announce the winners, IAAF Founder and President Inas Abou Ayyash underlined the importance of living by the foundation’s motto “Dare to Dream.”

“I have always believed in the dream I want to achieve and the path I want to follow. You too can dream big and aim higher,” she told the students.

Three finalists from Beirut campus and three from Byblos presented their projects at the ceremony, which was attended by LAU President Joseph G. Jabbra, Minister of State for Women’s Affairs Jean Oghassabian, and representative of the Lebanese army General George Melhem. In attendance also were many distinguished guests, including Nehmat Aoun, wife of Lebanese Commander Army General Joseph Aoun (BA, ‘07).

The students showcased their ideas, which were aimed at supporting Lebanon’s social, cultural and economic development. Their projects tackled issues such as poverty, the energy crisis, and degree fraud.

According to Dr. Jabbra, only youth can address these challenges and inspire change. “The future belongs to you, young people. There is no one else who is going to provide Lebanon with the opportunity to rise from its ashes,” he said.

Dr. Jabbra also praised the IAAF’s efforts to encourage youth to bring about change. “The IAAF allows the youth of Lebanon to give back to their community and translate their dreams into successes on the ground,” he added.

The finalists were selected by a jury consisting of Abou Ayyash herself, along with Minister Oghassabian, Deputy CEO of LBCI Randa El-Daher, and LAU’s own associate professor Silva Karkoulian and assistant professor Amine Abi Aad.

The winning team from Byblos campus, headed by a second-year banking and finance student Andy Kazandjian, created a phone application called FindMyDoc, which provides detailed information about physicians with a variety of specializations, helps patients find the right one to visit, and allows users to rate the doctors. The other FindMyDoc team members are Chief Operations Officer Ghadi Elias, Chief Investment Officer Myriam Aoun, Marketing Director Sarah el Hachem, Sales Director Oussama Younes, and Sales Representative Robert Khairalla. All of them are either current Adnan Kassar School of Business students or alumni.

“We hope our project will impact all of Lebanon and eventually expand to the whole region,” said Kazandjian.

As for Beirut campus, Lea-Maria Nahas and Diala Dabbous won for their project LMN, which trains underprivileged people and those with special needs to create unique made-to-measure men’s clothing. The project empowers women and marginalized people while challenging traditional menswear styles. “We wanted to prove that fashion design students can also be successful social entrepreneurs,” said Nahas.

The purpose behind this competition is in line with LAU’s mission: encouraging creativity and innovation among youth. By exposing students to such opportunities, LAU sets them on the track toward a successful future and arms them with confidence and expertise to face challenges.

As Kazandjian put it: “LAU supports us so that we can turn our dream into a business.”