(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanon’s Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb recently signed a $6.4 million loan agreement with the World Bank to establish a new NGO that would help Lebanese youth launch tech startups.
“This is a 12.8 million dollars project where the MoT provides $6.4 million, and takes on 6.4 million from the World Bank,” said Walid Karam, a representative of the Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunications. “The project will be executed over four years, and the ministry will start repaying the World Bank at the end of the four years with insignificant interest.”
Karam says the project is part of a mobile internet ecosystem fund, which was launched last year during Open Innovation Week in Beirut.
The NGO, which will be called MIHub, or Mobile Internet Hub, will provide a forum for Lebanese youth to increase open innovation and crowd-sourcing in Lebanon.
Officials say the program expects to launch over 60 startups and will accept 500 students over the next four years. Projects will include mobile app development, micro-enterprising projects, incubators, and the launching of angel investor groups.
“The importance of this project is that it opens up new areas of the Lebanese youth and enhance the national economy,” Harb said. “The cooperation between Lebanon and the World Bank is not new and will continue.”
Harb says Lebanese youth can help drive Lebanon into a new age of modern consumer technology. Karam agrees, and adds that Lebanese universities in particular, can play a major role in this project.
“Through partnerships with Lebanese universities, we will be organizing regular workshops on robotics, mobile apps development, web development, and other core tech industries,” Karam said.