Thanks to the eco-incubator “ECONITIA”, created by the Association for the Development of Rural Capacities (ADR), Ali Karout is having concrete support to develop his entrepreneurial dreams.

Recently, we published the story of Mu'nis, who was also involved in the activities promoted by ECONITIA and RESMYLE. Ali Karout however offer us a different perspective, as he was not involved in the organisation and functioning of the eco-incubator but as a young entrepreneur.

Let’s see how it happened.

What is ADR?

Partner of RESMYLE, the Association for the Development of Rural Capacities (ADR) is a Lebanese non-profit, apolitical and non-denominational NGO, working mainly in South Lebanon. ADR’s mission is to help and empower disadvantaged people through social and economic development projects.

ADR designs and delivers environmentally friendly projects meeting the needs of local communities through four main programs: Micro-credit, Sustainable agriculture, Vocational training, Social development and Decentralized Cooperation.

What is “ECONITIA”?

EcoNitia is an eco-incubator, created in Tyre (Lebanon), thanks to the support of RESMYLE. Created in early 2022, it provides concrete support to the young eco-entrepreneurs on design and creative thinking in the framework of RESMYLE project. It offers training, workshops and concrete job opportunities to young people who have an idea of business in the field of environment and sustainable development.

Who is Ali?

Ali Karout is a young Lebanese entrepreneur seeking to develop his pottery business project. As many of his fellow young NEETS, Ali has big visions for his future and a passion for pottery. Everyone - and especially youngsters - knows that sometimes, it can be hard to keep ambitions high if opportunities are lacking.  Therefore, it becomes crucial to grab all the chances life might present in order to learn and progress, hoping that these chances will help to achieve our dreams. In this sense, Ali is a perfect combination of intuition, technical skills and readiness.

Since he was very young, Ali had the dream of creating his own pottery project, also based on the reuse of materials. He practiced a lot and he is for sure a talented artisan but it is thanks to the support received from ECONITIA, that he could really start to think about pottery as a real profession for his future.

“I have followed different workshops and trainings organized by ECONITIA” says Ali. “These trainings made a huge impact on my experiences, both in terms of crafting skills and in terms of business-related skills such as marketing, advertising, social media, business development and more”.

Ali pointed out that the most important information added to his knowledge is getting to know your project: a good business plan is where you know your project’s strength and weakness, and knowing how to reinforce your project’s weak point. The more you know your project, the more you can dedicate your efforts and knowledge for the progress and improvement of your business.

“Another asset of this experience is that a true connection between trainers and NEETs has emerged” adds Ali “we are still in contact with each other and we can always count on them for any clarification or explanation on our business project.”

“I will be forever grateful for this opportunity offered by ECONITIA and RESMYLE, it has been an incredible experience that will impact my future project and plans and I hope it will be the same for many other young entrepreneurs from Lebanon!”- concludes Ali.