This article appeared in The Daily Star - Oct 17, 2016 (https://goo.gl/SOs0Jg) It is often a challenge for athletes and health-conscious people to find healthy snacks to go along with their daily food consumption and help them achieve a vigorous lifestyle. Soumaya Merhi, owner of Bread Basket Square, or BBS, helps those looking for a healthy lifestyle by providing them with high-quality local products made from non-genetically modified (GMO) grains. Bread Basket is the first and only wheat-free bakery in Lebanon. Its mission is to provide natural and freshly baked goods made from barley, oat, rye and spelt. “There is no other company that produces entirely wheat-free products in Lebanon,” Merhi said. “I believe in this industry and I personally consume what I produce.” Merhi said that modern wheat is harmful as it causes digestive problems and hinders metabolism. “Consumers must become more conscious of the impact of cereals in their diet intake,” she said. “This is why I thought of creating an alternative snack option for Lebanese consumers,” she added. The 28-year-old entrepreneur started her 400-square-meter factory in 2013 in Tripoli shortly after returning from Montreal where she studied food economics and worked at a patisserie with a Japanese chef using dried foods and nuts. “My work experience in Montreal focused mainly on the organic-food health industry,” she said. Merhi initially comes from a healthy family background as her father works in homeopathy, a natural form of medicine. In fact, it was her father’s idea to make wheat-free bread. “There was a semistructure when I came back from Canada. I saw that bread was being made and I found out about Souk El Tayeb, so I started selling bread there,” she said. “This had good effect in the market so I went to different points of sale in Lebanon with no strategy in place. I picked up the basic idea and developed it to generate steady revenue in the company while increasing the product line,” she continued. Today, the main items produced by BBS include Arabic bread made of rye, oat and spelt, in addition to vegan maamoul and locally made healthy energy bars, the taqa bar, inspired by an old Lebanese pastry. BBS also produces cookies, granola, kaak and buns. “My goal is to offer health-conscious individuals and athletes with GMO-free products and products free from synthesized sugars, additives and preservatives,” she explained. Merhi tries her best to buy the needed raw materials such as spelt and other grains from farmers in Lebanon. “But we also import from outside Lebanon products such as dark chocolate and dried food,” she said. Among the biggest challenges that have faced Merhi in her journey to establishing a successful startup is the long process of acquiring licenses for her business. “It is not easy for a girl to get all the industrial licenses to start with a project by going from one minister to another,” she said. “I did them all but the process was very difficult.” Another challenge faced by the young entrepreneur was access to funds. “I know that there is a lot of money in the Lebanese market for startups but there still is no proper guidance on how to access these funds,” she said. “Also, it is a big challenge to present your company to a group of people who do not share the same passion, especially [since] most of the startup system is geared to technology.” But Merhi was lucky to meet with people from Creed Capital, a financial consultancy group, which played a great role in guiding her to better present her idea to investors which gained her the trust of IM Capital and Diane Foundation, who will provide her with funding for her next phase of the project. “I was lucky to attract funds from IM Capital because they do not only focus on funding tech projects but different business models as well,” she said. IM Capital provides matching capital, equity guarantee, as well as support programs to a broad range of qualified early businesses and investors. IM Capital is funded by USAID under the Middle East and North Africa Investment Initiative, aiming to improve access to finance and revenue growth for startups. BBS was initially funded by a microloan from Kafalat. But since last January, Merhi started pitching at different investors in Lebanon and she managed to secure funds from an angel investor, IM Capital and Diane Foundation. “We are securing more funds to expand our company and move to the next phase,” she said. Merhi’s next phase of operation includes the introduction of new equipment to turn her manufacturing process into an automated one. “But taqa bars will still be handmade,” she said. “We have techniques that help us produce taqa bars manually.” Merhi plans to get the ISO 22000 certificate for food safety management as well this year. “Now that I will be getting new funds I want to build my quality assurance team and this is why I brought resources and expertise from New York and Holland in addition to the local expertise,” she said. “While I currently work on recipes with a Lebanese-Russian nutritionist in Tripoli, we will also be having a nutritionist on board in the next phase.” The young entrepreneur added that her next investment will also focus on expanding presence in Lebanon through branding and sales. “I want to have more footing in the Lebanese market; this is why I decided to establish an office for the company in Beirut to be closer to the target market,” she explained. Merhi plans to enhance its sales and branding by participating in public events such as the Beirut Marathon. “We also took part in Triathlon Batroun and we are very involved in the outdoor athletic arena in Lebanon,” she noted. “We will be holding workshops in our Beirut office to raise awareness on the importance of consuming healthy food.” Products manufactured by BBS are sold in high-end shops such as Goodies, Aziz and others, in addition to pharmacies and small supermarkets. “I have small distributors that take me to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Cote d’Ivoire and I am also planning to go to Saudi Arabia in 2017.