September 27 2017, in its 6^th edition, the FFE competition, co-organized with the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and in partnership with L’Orient-Le Jour and Le Commerce du Levant, saw 78 applications received this year, 25 projects were shortlisted and over 50 hours of one-on-one trainings and workshops were given to the candidates. Ten candidates were selected to pitch in front of the competition’s partners and five candidates were shortlisted to compete in the final: Alexandra Valerik defended Legato – an online platform allowing musicians to find work opportunities; Ingrid Salloum pitched for ImagineMe – an online platform allowing parents to create personalized children’s stories through augmented reality; Stéphanie Sakr spoke about Pourpre – a concept store to create personalized lipsticks; and this year’s winners: Soraya Hamdan and Marie-Jose Daoud defended Labne & Facts, and Therese Keyrouz, YallaBus. They each had 5 minutes to pitch before the jury – Mrs. Corine Kiame from IM Capital, Jihad Bitar from Smart ESA, and Bassel Aoun from Kafalat, and the public. Berytech is offering 6 months incubation as a prize to Labneh & Facts – an online platform for the production and publication of content through professional journalists, and YallaBus – mobile application to optimize bus services in Lebanon, winners of the 2017 edition of the Femme Francophone Entrepreneure competition. The incubation will give the two winning teams access to Berytech’s co-working space, to trainings and workshops as well as networking opportunities. The winners are also each receiving a 10,000 euro grant from AUF as well as media coverage from L’Orient–Le Jour and Le Commerce du Levant. “The young women who presented their projects during the final are creative, innovative and inspiring … and as Charles-Maurice De Talleyrand-Perigord so aptly put it: ‘Where so many men have failed, a woman can succeed’,” commented Mr. Maroun Chammas, Berytech President and MENA II Chief-of-Party, during the opening ceremony in the presence of  the Minister of State for Women’s Rights, H.E. Mr. Jean Oghassabian, and Ambassador to Canada in Lebanon H.E. Mrs. Emmanuelle Lamoureux, representatives of the competition’s partners and the Saint Joseph University of Beirut, as well as the media and friends and family of the contestants. In a heartfelt impromptu comment, Minister Oghassabian said “even if the competition had been open to both men and women, these five women would still have been finalists!”   More info available at:  http://berytech.org/women-entrepreneurship/