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Visit of USAID delegation to Taqa

September 15, 2017 Visit of USAID delegation to Taqa On the occasion of the visit of USAID DAA Jeane Pryor to Lebanon, a USAID delegation, in the presence of Dr. Anne Patterson, USAID Mission Director, and Bill Butterfield, USAID Director EG, met with MENA II leadership team at the premises of Taqa, one of IM […]

September 15, 2017

Visit of USAID delegation to Taqa

On the occasion of the visit of USAID DAA Jeane Pryor to Lebanon, a USAID delegation, in the presence of Dr. Anne Patterson, USAID Mission Director, and Bill Butterfield, USAID Director EG, met with MENA II leadership team at the premises of Taqa, one of IM Capital Matching Capital portfolio companies. Mr Maroun Chammas, MENA II Chief of Party, explained the MENA II context and mission in Lebanon. Dr. Nicolas Rouhana, General Manager of IM Capital, detailed the modus operandi of IM Capital, and Ms Corine Kiame, Investment Manager of IM Capital described the investment strategy and rationale for investing in Taqa. Ms Soumaya Merhi, founder of Taqa, walked through her journey in entrepreneurship and the value-chain of baking healthy snacks, and how IM Capital helped her to scale from Tripoli to Beirut. Ms Brigitte Baumann from GoBeyond, IM Capital partner in the Seeders program, shared how business angels look at early-stage investment, especially in deals like Taqa. The meeting was very casual around a cup of coffee and Taqa healthy and tasty cookies, and the USAID delegation ended up buying a whole bunch. The USAID delegation promised to help Taqa get into the US market, by opening up doors with the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce.