AI startup in Lebanon soars with new skills

“The Lebanese ecosystem, especially those between 18 and 25 years old, don’t have the right business base to learn how to run their companies,” says Anthony Kreidy, Co-founder of Questa. 

Innovative, youth-led startups throughout Lebanon not only face the economic and political challenges that the whole country is grappling with, but they also face many of the common issues that entrepreneurs often have to tackle in the early stages of starting a business. Namely, lack of access to information, business development services, mentorship and seed funding or investment. 

SPARK and Jusoor partnered on the Skills, Training and Education Programme, financed by the Islamic Development Bank and the Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Foundation, to support entrepreneurs throughout Lebanon and Jordan to start and grow their businesses. The Startup Roadshow 4 business competition selected high growth potential startups to engage in a series of hackathons, training, mentorship and a final pitch competition with the potential to win up to $7,000 in seed funding.  

For Anthony Kreidy and Nour Adabachy, the Co-Founders of Questa, the opportunity to be part of the support programme was game-changing. “The work that was supposed to take a year and a half, they helped us accomplish it in four to five months,” explains Anthony. 

Questa is an innovative EdTech business that develops tailored digital education platforms, AI-Chatbot learning experiences, website and platform development for a range of clients. Being part of Startup Roadshow 4 enabled the entrepreneurs to access comprehensive training covering various essential aspects of entrepreneurship, including product and application development, financial modeling and forecasting, sales and digital marketing strategies, legal registration processes, and investor presentation skills.

Over 260 aspiring startups from Syria, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon participated in the hackathons, which provided them with a unique platform to gain valuable insights, foster meaningful connections and receive expert guidance and mentorship in the process of launching and expanding their own startups.

“We went through many stages in the Startup Roadshow 4 with Jusoor and SPARK, from pre-incubation to incubation and we reached the top 10 [to pitch] on stage in front of the judges,” said Nour Adabachy. “We benefited a lot. We met many mentors, many startups like us, who have the same ambition to make an impact on society.”

Throughout the programme’s duration, the aspiring entrepreneurs benefited from more than 670 hours of comprehensive training sessions, which covered a wide range of topics, including technology tools and mentorship, enriching their skill sets and enhancing their chances of success.

Through their AI-powered, gamified conversational learning platform, Questa is offering technology solutions that focus on preparing students for university and empowering educators. They also offer tailored services to startups, SMEs and large enterprises. Putting all their newfound business acumen, marketing and management expertise to good use, the Questa team is expanding to new heights.