Support for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

Our mission is to support the economic recovery of SMEs that were impacted by the Beirut explosion.

 

Our action goals, therefore, are to:

  • Assess the needs and fundraise to offer immediate support for short-term needs of local businesses.
  • Develop a plan for the recovery phase consisting of channeling donations/funds and offering expertise and technical support.

 

Completed milestones

  • Created the core SME recovery team
  • Set strategic plan with a gender-inclusive lens
  • Built strategic partnership with Backbone Beirut
  • Ongoing outreach and building partnerships
  • Map needs of around 120 SMEs in the most affected areas
  • Set donation mechanism for direct donations to local businesses
  • Support 3 SMEs 

 

Focal Area Leads: Dr. Alain Daou and Dr. Lina Daouk-Oyri

Team members:

  • Houssam El Eid
  • Lina Tannir
  • Leila Khauli

Dr. Lina Daouk-Oyri

Lina is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Olayan School of Business (OSB) at the American University of Beirut. She is an expert in Human Resources Management. She is specifically interested in personality and individual differences at work in relation to job variables relevant to today’s business context. Daouk’s research has appeared in several journals such as Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, International Journal of Nursing Studies and many more.

Dr. Alain Daou

Alain is an Assistant Professor in entrepreneurship at the Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut. He worked for 10 years with several organizations as a project manager, country manager, in house advisor and consultant in many places like Canada, Central America, Middle East and Africa. Daou’s main focus in his research is to try to understand how certain types of enterprises such as social enterprises, not-for-profit and small and medium businesses innovate, scale up and have a positive social and economic impact on stakeholders and on the society as a whole.

Houssam El Eid

Houssam is a marketing director specialist, where he joined the famous Lebanese restaurant called Zaatar w Zeit for the couple previous years. He then became the managing partner at Urban Eat and now he is the deputy CEO at Urbanista.

Lina Tannir

Lina is lecturer in finance at the Olayan School of Business (OSB) at the American University of Beirut. She also served as the chairperson of a leading Lebanese NGO that worked in the field of culture and education. Tannir is a specialist in micro finance and has many published articles in referred journals. She served as a mentor and juror for regional and local business plan competitions such as the MIT Pan Arab Business Plan Competition. She is a CFA charter holder with an MBA from AUB, and has over 10 years of experience in public sector reform programs.

Leila Khauli

Leila is a full time Lecturer at the Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut. She has introduced and coordinated several highly specialized course at the School and was nominated three times for the Teaching Excellence Award at AUB. Her main focus in her research is about how brands and organizations are adopting digital strategies in the region. Khauli is also a Communication Consultant and has worked with several local and regional brands in Brand Strategy and communication.