The CLUSTER4GREEN project launched a pitching competition for MSMEs in partnership with Berytech,. 29 MSMEs applied to the call to participate in the Sustainable Investment Pitching Competition, out of which ten were shortlisted for the pitching day during the Green Innovation Days 2022, that took place in Beirut, Lebanon.

The final three winners would receive a €3,000 voucher to enhance their sustainability within these four categories of impact: Economic, Environmental, Social, and Territorial. Winning this pitch will allow those businesses to recruit an expert to help them expand their sustainability

The Jury and Selection

The businesses were chosen for their capacity to demonstrate a business strategy, add value to the industry, boost exports, improve service quality, and fill market gaps in the local, regional, or international arena with a strong focus on job creation, the introduction of new technologies that can enhance business procedures and products, as well as cost-effectiveness.

Members of the jury included Jawad Bou Ghanem, the Programme Policy Officer at WFP grading the territorial aspect; Maya Karkour, partner & co-founder of EcoConsulting, grading the environmental aspect; Lynda Achkouty Mouawad from GBSB Global Business School, grading the social aspect; and Chadi Abou Nohra, FSC Program Manager at Berytech, grading the economic aspect.

Meet The Winners

Garbalizer

GARBALISER is a startup specializing in transforming organic waste – vegetable remains & animal manure – into liquid organic fertilizers. Designed to improve crop quality and yield while being environmentally safe, GARBALISER products are formulated and produced under the supervision of professional experts using natural anaerobic fermentation processes.

Lebanon Waste Management

Lebanon Waste Management is a sorting facility that manages dry solid waste. It has a “sorting from the source” program, and it’s the only facility in Lebanon so far that recycles polystyrene.

Grade A Plus

Because a part of heritage is keeping up with the suffering of farmers in the matter of their limited income, and after seeing the burning of wool and noticing the market full of Dacron products, which they consider a refuge for rest and sleep, but it is made up of highly toxic chemicals, that might cause diseases such as cancer of all kinds in addition to skin and respiratory complications. Therefore, Grade A Plus considered their role essential in solving these problems and returning wool to the market, but this time in an industrial way, by being light and suitable for modern tastes.

About CLUSTER4GREEN

The creation of economic opportunities through the promotion and development of the Mediterranean circular economy is the essence of CLUSTER4GREEN. In a vast part of the region, the leverage potential of circular economy is still lagging, deeply affecting the capacity of green sectors to generate wealth and jobs. CLUSTER4GREEN will take on the legacy of several previous projects that paved the way for the adoption of sustainable models of development, based on the circular concept, in industries like textile, building or smart cities.

The objective of this program is to support MSMEs in adopting circular economy innovation processes and in establishing national and international consolidated collaboration agreements including the building of Public-Private Partnerships.

CLUSTER4GREEN is an EU-funded project under the ENI-CBC Med Programme and its geographic coverage is as following: Italy, France, Spain, Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan