Under the Auspices of Telecommunications Minister, Boutros Harb, touch Honors the Lebanese Winning Teams at the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition
•touch grants the winning Lebanese team certificates and cheques to help turn their ideas into profitable businesses
May 19, 2015— touch, the leading telecommunications and mobile data operator in Lebanon, managed by Zain Group, the pioneering mobile and data services operator in the Middle East and Africa, honored the two Lebanese winning teams at the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition, under the auspices of Telecommunications Minister, Boutros Harb, who hosted the honorees at the Ministry in Beirut.
touch bestowed upon both teams certificates and cheques to help them turn their tech ideas into profitable businesses.
In his word during the honoring ceremony, Vice Chairman and General Manager of touch, Wassim Mansour, said, “On behalf of touch and Zain Group, the strategic partner of the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition, we congratulate you on your awards for your innovative ideas that we vow to support as the leading telecommunications and mobile data company whose aim is to find and implement smart solutions to facilitate communications for the Lebanese.” He added, “Our support is part of our Corporate Social Responsibility program, Positive touch, which seeks to support the civil society and initiatives that contribute to the local community’s development.”
On his part, Telecommunications Minister, Boutrous Harb, said, “I am happy to meet with the youth who have won Lebanon first prizes in a regional competition and have thus managed to uphold its image that some are trying to smear.” He added, “The Telecommunications Ministry considers the success of the Lebanese team a reflection of its ambition to keep Lebanon at the forefront of culture, sciences, and technology. The attempts to smear Lebanon’s reputation are being countered by such success stories. Lebanon was the first democracy in the Arab World. Now, it has been without a president for almost a year. The image of Lebanon that you are upholding is one that we are proud of. Despite the attempts to halt its progress, Lebanon is advancing. Its advancement cannot happen through people who view themselves as more important than their own country, but through people who are serving it, such as yourselves. I would like to add that the Telecommunications Ministry and touch are supportive of your endeavors, not just morally, but in every possible way. Our support is proportional to the scale of your projects.”
On her part, Chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum for the Pan Arab Region, Hala Fadel, said, “We are proud of the Lebanese young talents who are constantly self-developing and keeping up with the latest tech developments in the world with creative ideas and solutions. Those talents have competed against thousands of participants and managed to win first prizes of the competition.” Fadel dwelled on the winning projects and the reasons that allowed them to win.
Ranking first in the Social Entrepreneurship track, along with two other teams, the Lebanese team’s project, Visualizing Impact, is a citizen data journalism laboratory that deploys data science, design and technology for social justice. The other winning team, Color Bug, an ideal solution that combines the traditional and the digital, won first prize for best startup track.