Lebanon: Shift "To Digital" Hackathon

FINHACK CHALLENGES

Enabling digital payments

How might start-ups accelerate e-payment acceptance and deliver new value for merchants and businesses?

Social impact & financial inclusion

How can fintechs drive social impact by supporting sustainable and equitable livelihoods and strengthening local / regional economies?

GOVHACK CHALLENGES

E-Municipality

How can Lebanese municipalities harness  new technologies to discharge their duties effectively and transform Lebanese cities and towns into functional living spaces?

Ease of doing business

How can new technologies contribute to the creation of a business-friendly environment that encourages investment and sustainable growth?

Citizen and government digital interaction

How can digital communication technologies enable effective interaction between citizens and government officials?

FINHACK CHALLENGES

Challenge 1 : Enabling digital payments

Context

How can FinTechs and emerging technology companies transform commerce by accelerating the growth and adoption of digital payments through solutions that are easily accessible to consumers and issuers? The majority of payments in the Middle East are still done in cash, which has a negative impact on financial inclusion, cost (i.e., managing cash is expensive), and security, among other things. Visa is looking to drive and accelerate the acceptance of digital payments across the region with a particular focus on long-tail merchants (i.e., small merchants/Mom n’ Pops). Visa is looking for companies that can help merchants (online or offline) accept digital payments. The more establishments accept Visa, the better for the ecosystem – merchants and consumers.

Problem statement

The end goal is not to force a cashless society but to enable everyone to enjoy the convenience and efficiency of e-payments in a simple, swift, safe and seamless manner. Visa would like to help realize this vision of a better payments landscape for both individuals and businesses, where e-payments are possible for everyone.

What is needed

For this challenge, we are looking for companies in the following segments:

• Merchant Services & Tools
• Payment Gateways

SMB Aggregators/Solutions, etc

How might start-ups accelerate e-payment acceptance and deliver new value for merchants and businesses?

• Opening up new acceptance segments for digital payments
• Creating a cashless economy through cash displacement​
• Assisting small and medium businesses in adopting digital payments
• Providing smart financing solutions for merchants and businesses
• Using data and analytics to help merchants drive sales (… And more)​

Challenge 2: Social impact & financial inclusion

Context

Visa has been connecting the world through the most innovative, reliable, and secure digital payment network that enables individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. 2 billion people in underserved communities still lack access to financial services, which is a barrier to their progress. Visa believes that empowering micro & small businesses can drive a multiplier-effect to improve lives and strengthen economies.

Visa is on a mission to be the catalyst for micro & small businesses to prosper, become a partner to drive progress in local communities, and lead responsibly to make a transformative impact in the world.

Problem statement

How can fintechs drive social impact by supporting sustainable and equitable livelihoods and strengthening local / regional economies?

What is needed

Visa is looking for fintechs focused on social impact outcomes across:

1)      Micro and small business development:

• Business skills development
• Financial education / literacy
• Access to capital / credit
• Transition to digital payments
• Improving connectivity
• Building resilience through financial products (e.g., savings, insurance)

2) Financial Literacy: young communities

Use gamification to educate future generations about the importance of being financially responsible and help them build strong financial acumen.

Tools available

Visa’s leading digital payments technology enables millions of consumers across the globe to pay with a single click online or a wave of their hand at in store POS terminals. These are much faster, more efficient and more secure alternatives to paying by cash. Can we challenge ourselves to do even more? This challenge invites startups to use Visa’s payment APIs innovatively in conjunction with new concepts and other upcoming technology, for enabling smaller merchants to accept digital payments in store or driving eCommerce for online merchants through a much better digital alternative to cash on delivery.

www.developer.visa.com is Visa’s API platform where you can search and learn more about available APIs that you can integrate within your solution for a safer and enhanced user experience.

GOVHACK CHALLENGES

Challenge 1: E-municipality

Context

Residents of Lebanese cities and towns face major challenges and issues such as lack of urban planning, traffic safety, solid waste management, air pollution, automobile dependency, and insufficient infrastructure.

Municipalities, as autonomous local administrations, have a major role to play in solving these challenges to improve the lives of their inhabitants. However, their initiatives are often hindered by lack of funds.

Fortunately, cities can harness the benefits of innovation and technology today to improve the lives of their inhabitants by becoming more streamlined, efficient, and sustainable, whilst providing municipalities the opportunity to recover their initial investment through efficiency gains and flexibility.

Problem Statement

How can Lebanese municipalities harness new technologies to discharge their duties effectively and transform Lebanese cities and towns into functional living spaces?

What is needed

Tech-focused tools and systems that allow municipalities to offer more effective programs and services, reduce spending, increase productivity, and ultimately enhance the quality of life for their inhabitants.

Challenge 2: Ease of doing business

Context

Ease of doing business is an index published by the World Bank that assesses the ease of starting and operating a local firm in a given country.

According to the latest annual ratings, Lebanon is ranked 142 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business and the country has dropped 41 spots in 10 years.

Therefore, it has become critical to reform the regulatory framework that applies to local firms in Lebanon and simplify its related administrative formalities such as registering the company at the Commercial Registry, obtaining construction permits, paying taxes and dealing with customs authorities.

Problem Statement

How can new technologies contribute to the creation of a business-friendly environment that encourages investment and sustainable growth?

What is needed

Solutions that can simplify the different procedures related to opening and operating a business in Lebanon (i.e. company registration, construction permits, electricity connection, etc.) and facilitate the interactions with public agencies (i.e. MoF, NSSF, Customs, etc.).

Fact sheets

Starting a business Fact sheet: LINK 

Getting electricity fact sheet: LINK

Trading across borders fact sheet: LINK 

Challenge 3: Citizens and government digital interaction

Context

Much of the existing work on the development of e-government has been explored from the perspective of supply. The main focus being on what governments offer online in terms of data and services.

Whereas, the exploration from the demand perspective, in terms of citizen interaction with e-government, remains relatively unexplored and underdeveloped.

Nonetheless, the citizens’ high-level of engagement with public issues on social media channels highlights their desire to be more actively involved in public affairs.

In addition, just as governments need to hear from citizens, citizens need to hear from governments especially when the latter need to explain the outcomes of voted policies or decided measures.

Consequently, enabling citizen-government collaboration where everyone gets a place on the table to discuss and share ideas is becoming a necessity. 

Problem Statement

How can digital communication technologies enable effective interaction between citizens and government officials?

What is needed

Solutions and platforms that create intercommunication  channels between citizens and governmental agencies and promote a constructive exchange of views and cooperation between both parties.

HE Adel Afiouni was appointed Minister of State for Investment and Technology Affairs on January 31st, 2019. Adel Afiouni is a former investment banker and an expert in international capital markets and Emerging Economies, with more than 25 years-experience in major investment banks in Paris, New York and London including 20 years at Credit Suisse in London between 1999 and 2018. Throughout his career in investment banking, Minister Afiouni held a number of leadership positions in emerging markets and capital markets, including Head of Emerging Markets Coverage in EMEA at Credit Suisse since 2014. He managed numerous projects and financing transactions in Europe and in the Middle East and played an active role in Lebanon and in the MENA region in advising Governments, financial institutions and corporations. Mr. Afiouni is a founding member of the Lebanese International Finance Executives Association (LIFE) and was a board member of LIFE until his appointment as Minister in January 2019. Mr. Afiouni is the author of several articles on the Lebanese economy and on economic and financial reforms needed to stimulate growth. He is a regular speaker in economic conferences in Lebanon and abroad. Minister Afiouni is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, France. He also holds a Masters’ degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Sup Telecom Paris and a Masters’ degree in Finance from University Paris 1st Pantheon Sorbonne.

Corine Kiame is the Investment Manager at Insure and Match Capital Holding SAL (IM Capital) since April 2015. She supervises the matching & insurance capital process and manages the work of the analytical team. Corine is responsible for IM Capital operations, including deal sourcing, investment project evaluation and valuation, business models validation, value creation and mentoring in investments, and supervision of exits from investments.  Prior to joining IM Capital, and for more than 9 years, Ms. Kiame was a Director at SHUAA Capital psc Dubai, UAE, where her responsibilities included Product Development, Strategy and Project Management, and Operations. In 2006 and 2007, Mrs. Kiame worked as an assistant fund manager on several regional funds representing USD 1 Billion in assets under management, covering fifteen Arab markets. Corine holds a Masters in Finance from Paris IX Dauphine in Paris, an Executive Education Certification from Harvard Business School with emphasis on Private Equity and Venture Capital, an Executive Certification from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with emphasis on Venture Mentorship, is a member of the Lebanese League for Women in Business, and a member Seeders LWAF Business Angels group and Rising Tide Europe 3.

Salam Yamout is an independent consultant specializing in digital transformations and their impact on business, governments, and society at large. Before that, she headed the Middle East Regional Bureau of the Internet Society for three years and was the National ICT Strategy Coordinator at the Office of the Prime Minister of Lebanon for six years. Over her career, she worked with industry leaders such as Cisco Systems, and consulted with International organizations such as the European Union and UNDP. Ms. Yamout serves on the board of various organizations.  Currently, she is an Executive Board member of the RIPE NCC (the Internet Registry for Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia), the chairman of LEBIX (the Lebanese Internet Exchange Point), and the Vice-President of the LLWB (Lebanese League of Women in Business).  She also serves on the board of the MITEF for the Pan Arab Region which organizes the yearly Arab Business Plan Competition since 2007.  While working for the PCM, she established the iSMEs fund and was a key player in the entrepreneurship eco-system, and a board member in LFE and on the investment committee of the Building Block Fund. Ms. Yamout holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Ecole Supérieure des Affaires (ESA) in Beirut and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arizona.

Rita Mokbel is a senior technology executive in the Telecoms & Fintech industries, and is currently the Head of Sales, Information technology Managed Services with Ericsson. With a focus on increasing accessibility and intelligence across all industries, Rita leads technology companies through transformative change enabling digital business agility and operations through artificial intelligence and automation. With more than 14 years of experience in management consulting, sales and business management in senior leadership roles, Rita’s earlier roles in Ericsson are VP-Head of Global Sales Mobile financial services, VP-Head of Sales and Business Management Middle East and Africa and Head of Customer Team - ICT KAM, North Middle East Accounts. She has also worked for Siemens / Nokia Siemens Networks and has an early-career technical engineering background. Rita also holds a PhD in Financial Engineering and two master’s degrees in Modelling & Computer Simulation and Telecom Engineering as well as executive program certifications from Oxford in fintech and from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Artificial intelligence and Big data. Rita is a member of Seeders/LWAF, a group of business angels aiming to boost innovation and support the development of the Lebanese entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Nicolas Rouhana is currently the Chairman and General Manager of IM Capital, a $20M fund under USAID MENA Investment Initiative, providing Matching Capital, Insurance Capital and Technical Assistance to early-stage businesses and investors (angels, VCs, accelerators) in Lebanon. He is also Chairman of SpeedLebanon - the first seed accelerator in Lebanon, Vice-President of the Internet Society-Lebanon Chapter, and Board Member of Berytech. Between 2001 & 2015, he was the Executive Director of Berytech, the first technology incubator in Lebanon, counseling and mentoring entrepreneurs in their early-stage ventures, and supporting the growth of the Lebanese startup eco-system. Nicolas holds a Telecommunications Engineering degree from the Saint Joseph University in Beirut, a PhD in Networking Systems from Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, and is also an EDP graduate from INSEAD, France.

Marcel Rached is a country officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. He is a member of the MENA regional team covering Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. He brings more than eighteen years of experience in sourcing, structuring, and executing investments in the retail, manufacturing and financial services sectors. Marcel holds a Master of Science degree in Finance from George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Lathika Pai is Country Head at Microsoft for Startups, which supports startups in the Middle East and South Asia. Microsoft for Startups engages with growth stage and typically Series A funded B2B startups. Her prior work experience includes large technology companies in the US and UK like Nortel, American Management Systems (CGI) and a $300 million funded start up Relera which was in the cloud and managed services space. As a serial entrepreneur, Lathika successfully raised capital for her ventures both through equity and debt funding, as well as provided profitable exits to her investors. She has been on the Boards of international technology companies and helped them with their strategy for Asia. Lathika is also the Founder of SonderConnect, an organization that discovers, empowers and promotes women entrepreneurs looking to scale their business and raise funds through targeted mentoring and a robust, supportive community of executives, leaders and founders.