“When Lebanon is home”
A woman's perspective of living and working in Lebanon as it navigates its current political and social crises.
The 2022 HerMeNow Accelerator is a 5-month program that will bring training support to up to 30 women-led social enterprises in MENA and Africa in the sprint phase and technical, financial and mentorship support to 10 of them in the accelerator phase.
This program is run in collaboration with a dynamic team of experts specialized in
social entrepreneurship in MENA with more than 14 years of experience in the field: Bloom.pm
The targeted participants are start-ups and social enterprises created by women entrepreneurs that already have an existing structure and some traction and that are ready to scale up. Together we can help them grow!
The 2022 HerMeNow Accelerator edition is funded by StardustConcept* ESG & Impact division led by Tamara Ghandour.
The owner and founder, Natacha Fazal Karim, desires nothing more than to support women’s ideas, hopes and talents by empowering them through social entrepreneurship so they may be creative catalysts for collective change and sustainable development.
The program is almost entirely remote and accessible to enterprises across geographies.
*Stardustconcept is an interior design company, with offices in Dubai and New York.
They Whispered To Her,
You Cannot Withstand The Storm.
She Whispered Back, I Am The Storm.
Our Mission
is to support women-led social enterprises whose purpose is to shake up the status-quo through their commitment to social and environmental change.
Our Vision
is to provide a platform where women are given the space and freedom to blossom by using their talents to transform the world through positive change as well as the tools to grow their impact and bolster communities.
HerMeNow Accelerator
2022 Impact Focus
CULTURE | MINDSETS | EDUCATION
We believe that radical change hinges on these three supreme pillars as the conditions and means by which solutions to other critical SDG* challenges may be unlocked.
Social enterprises that can have a positive impact on culture, mindsets and education take a variety of forms and work across multiple sectors, including music, arts, sports, media, literature, children’s literature, wellbeing, and more.
All are welcome to apply as long as their mission and objectives are aligned with the implementation of culture and mindset towards achieving the SDGs. We’re particularly interested in unlocking change that addresses SDG1 ("end poverty in all its form everywhere") mostly through job creation, SDG number 5 ("achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls"), and SDG number 10 ("reducing inequality within and amongst countries").
*The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Why MENA?
The global social impact or impact investment sector is a $715 billion market and today, according to the Global Impact Investment Network, less than 2% is coming to the MENA region although the MENA region is the only region in the world where poverty rates have consistently increased since 2014. One of the reasons why so little funding is coming to the region is because there aren’t enough accelerator programs that are supporting social enterprises with appropriate resources and support to help them grow. Moreover, there is even less funding available when they exit these programs (i.e. beyond the $40k ticket). Only 6 accelerators in the MENA region focus on social enterprises*, 3 of which run temporary programs for SEs providing they are able to raise funding.
Furthermore, throughout MENA's job markets, the primary victims of Covid have been women, especially women entrepreneurs and small business owners.
*Social enterprises seek to generate profits while maximizing benefits to society and the environment.
Benefits For Enterprises
Participating In This Program
Access to world-class training and support for enterprise/organizational development from our Trainers and Enterprise Support Fellows.
Connections with Mentors/Experts worldwide to assist with key project needs.
A $2,000 USD grant funding.
Links to key regional and global partners for possible downstream support.
Personal and Professional 5 days retreat in Dubai in February 2023 where high profile speakers and advisors will be present.
Lifetime access to HerMeNow accelerator resources and network including mentors, investors, alumni and staff.
Selection Criteria For
Participating Projects
Enterprises will be assessed along these different criteria, though not all are required for the program.
Impact & Inclusion
What difference the enterprise will make, and for whom, how many jobs are created, what sort of marginalized communities are being impacted.
Capacity
What skills, knowledge and resources need to be developed to deliver the idea.
Feasibility
Whether the idea can be realistically delivered by the end of the program, and within budget.
Sustainability
Whether the idea has the potential to become financially sustainable and last beyond the duration of the funding we provide.
Stage of
Enterprise & Product
Whether the enterprise is already generating revenue, as well as the stage of development of the specific product or branch that this program will support.
Innovation &
Growth Potential
Whether the idea is new and different, and where or how it can potentially grow.
Eligibility Criteria
For The Program
The enterprise is eligible if it meets the following criteria:
The enterprise is designed to be sustainable and economically viable.
1
We Are Unable to Support:
Enterprises of only one individual.
1
What Does The
Program Look Like
Enterprises will get access to an empowering program that will include monetary prizes, mentoring, access to opportunities, and more.
Open House & Sprint
-
Online discussions and “info sessions” with thought leaders to build awareness and momentum around the program.
-
Selection process.
Timeline
The 2022 HerMeNow Accelerator Cycle.
What Are The
Mentorship Options?
There are two ways to get involved:
Key Mentors
The principal mentor for a team in our programs. We’ll match you with an enterprise based on your preference and the needs of the business. We’ll ask you to commit to the following:
Joining at least one Sprint session to meet the enterprises.
Topic Mentors
Topic Mentors support teams in specific areas of expertise. Their support is on a case-by-case basis, per the enterprises' needs and requests. They have two primary responsibilities:
Sometimes, they provide advice and answers to the entrepreneurs, but more often ask good questions to help them discover the solutions they can resolve within them.
What Are The
Partnership Options?
Outreach Partners
Community Engagement and Outreach
Engaging your community online and offline (including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter networks, along with the newsletters and website) in order to help us source enterprises for the program.
Benefits for Partners
.png)
Visibility on the Bloom and HerMeNow website, event pages, emails, and social media.
About Bloom
Bloom's Training Approach
Bloom programs focus on:
Development of essential personal and team skills that correlate with team/project success.
Bloom is also actively developing methods and online tools that can be used by other training programs to boost impact and facilitate access to resources for female entrepreneurs.
Bloom's Track Record
We’ve worked with over 400 teams over the last 7 years in Lebanon and the region, with a focus on early-stage startups and social enterprises, through online and offline programs.
Our teams have mobilized over $3m in next-stage funding, won prizes, and gained acceptance in top accelerators in Lebanon and worldwide.
We’ve collaborated with leading local, regional and international partners in the tech, accelerator, corporate, government, INGO, and university sectors.
The Bloom Team
Bloom’s lead trainers individually have 9-12 years experience (each) training and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship across the MENA region, including substantial experience working with people from marginalized, underrepresented, migrant, and refugee communities.
They also have substantial prior experience in entrepreneurship, tech, education, and community building in the US.
Our Blog
