In cooperation with the Smart Ecole Superieure des Affaires (ESA) Incubator and the Alumni of HEC Paris, L’Orient Le Jour, the Beirut Chamber of Commerce and ESA launched the first edition of HEC Entrepreneur Award in a press conference held in Beirut. The competition is open to all startups in Lebanon and beyond. Recalling, that HEC is a prestigious French college that graduates entrepreneurs in business and trade. During the event, L’Orient Le Jour executive director, Michel Hilou, outlined the terms of the competition, noting that it targets emerging enterprises in the creation phase or that have been set up less than 24 months, provided that their product is under development with a capital of less than USD 500,000. Hilou explained that the award will be granted to the most promising project in terms of innovation and potential for growth, globally in particular, in addition to its long term viability and profitability. Online registration (www.lorientlejour.com/prix-hec) has started yesterday and will continue until July 15. The winner will be selected at the closing ceremony in November 2019 during which finalists will present their projects to a panel of experts. The president of HEC France, Jean Paul Vermes said that despite all the constraints that entrepreneurs face in Lebanon as elsewhere, the desire to do business remains alive. For his part, the Lebanese minister of telecommunications, Mohamad Shucair, stressed the need to promote and boost entrepreneurship as a way to rescue the ailing country. (L’Orient Le Jour, June 14, 2019)