MIT Arab Business Plan Competition
An Interview with Hala Fadel
BIO
Hala Fadel is Chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum for the Pan Arab Region (Lebanon). She has led the effort to organize the first MIT Arab Business Plan Competition. Hala is also a Fund Manager at Comgest group which was created in 1986 as a portfolio management company and is based in Paris, Hong Kong, and Dublin. The Group has $9.5B under management, all run for institutions under the form of segregated accounts or public mutual funds. She was CFO and founder of Cambridge-based telecom software company Booleo. She started her career in 1997 as an analyst in the M&A division of Merrill Lynch in London. She graduated from HEC, France with a masters in financial economics, and from the MIT Sloan School of Management with an MBA.
Interview
Peter Zak: You recently conducted the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition, the first of its kind in the region. What was the response you got?
Hala Fadel: The MIT Arab Business Plan competition was a huge success right from the start, mainly thanks to the huge visibility we got by partnering with LBC, Lebanese Broadcasting Network in the Arab region. Communicating to potential entrepreneurs directly on regional television enabled us from the first year to get over 1,600 applications from 16 countries.
Peter Zak: Did the response surprise you in terms of both the volume and the quality?
Hala Fadel: The volume definitely surprised us, as we were expecting a fifth of that number. The quality of the 1,600 applications varied from excellent to average, but the teams who reached the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the competition were outstanding. Even Ken Morse, from the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, was impressed by the quality of the teams [who] attended his two-day workshop, after successfully completing the second round of the competition. These teams presented very high quality of both industry and business knowledge. Many were serial entrepreneurs.
Peter Zak: Can you describe the competition and the kind of entries you received?
Hala Fadel: We received entries from a variety of industries ranging from technology to software to catering or retail concepts. The winner this year was an educational software company, the first runner up is in bio fuels, and the second runner up in voice over IP.
Peter Zak: Tell us a little about your chapter. You are based in Beirut, Lebanon. How many countries do you cover? What are some of the activities you typically offer?
Hala Fadel: We are based in Beirut, but have a pan-Arab reach. Thanks to the MIT Arab Business Plan competition we reached 16 Arab countries last year. We are opening a Dubai chapter this year and plan on more chapters in the future. Our main activity has been so far focused on the business plan competition and on the organization of entrepreneurship workshops, but we also had several networking events. In Lebanon, we partnered with a great NGO promoting entrepreneurship, which helped raise awareness for the MIT EF for the Pan Arab Region among very successful entrepreneurs.
Peter Zak: What is the culture of entrepreneurship like in the Pan Arab region?
Hala Fadel: The culture of entrepreneurship is really an integral part of the Arab culture. However, entrepreneurship is not perceived as a science, and is usually not part of an educational curriculum. We are working on changing this in order to give the many Arab entrepreneurs the tools and support they need to succeed.
Peter Zak: Does the association with the MIT Enterprise Forum help? Are people in the region familiar with MIT?
Hala Fadel: Brand awareness for MIT varies from country to country. It is not generally very strong, mainly because the number of alumni in the region is rather small. But for those who know MIT or have heard of MIT in the region, the name adds instant credibility. Over time, we hope the name and the competition will be associated with successful entrepreneurship.
Peter Zak: What are some of the challenges of running the Forum in your region?
Hala Fadel: Recruiting people who are entrepreneurship savvy and can help us run and organize the chapter in the region is a challenge. We are currently short of volunteers in the organizing team, because it is difficult to find people who have relevant experience, and those who have, are overwhelmed by the amount of work they do already. There is a huge economic boom in the region, so human capital is difficult to find.
Peter Zak: How do you see the future of the Enterprise Forum and of entrepreneurship in general in the Pan Arab region?
Hala Fadel: I see a very bright future for our chapter as our region is in desperate need for the services we offer. I see the MIT Enterprise Forum ultimately having several chapters in the region and being a key organization for industry and entrepreneurship here. The MIT Arab Business Plan Competition should help this process as it conveys the principles of entrepreneurship.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I found your site on google blog search and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. Just added your RSS feed to my feed reader. Look forward to reading more from you.
- Sue.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Here’s another business plan competition put on by an MIT Enterprise Forum chapter:
2008 Mid-Atlantic Business Plan Competition for College Students
Any college student enrolled in a degree-granting institution in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, or the District of Columbia may enter the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Business Plan Competition.
The program will consist of an evaluation of technical business executive summaries that must be submitted by student teams by March 9th; the top scoring teams will be asked to submit expanded business plans and present before a judging panel of prominent entrepreneurs and venture capitalists for semi-final and final rounds, which will take place on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at Georgetown University. The final rounds will be open to the public.
The Competition is now looking for student teams to compete, faculty advisors to support them, and sponsors for underwriting to help make this program continue to be a success. More information about the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Business Plan Competition is located at www.mabpc.org.