Mr. Ghassan Assaf, Chairman and General Manager of BBAC, participated in MUBS’s Young Entrepreneur Contest ceremony. The event was organized by the Modern University for Business and Science (MUBS), in collaboration with the United Nations Information Center in Beirut, to announce the winners of the "Entrepreneurship for Youth to the Year 2016" contest, at the UNESCO Palace, Beirut.

The competition, held under the auspices of BBAC, aims to develop a culture of entrepreneurship, stimulate the spirit of innovation and creativity among the youth, and to build confidence in their abilities through unleashing their imagination to design small-scale projects able to build their capacities and promote entrepreneurship.

As a guest of honor and a key speaker at the event, Mr. Assaf shared his experience and advice with the youth, around the topics of digital economy, Internet and the role of technology and modern economy in entrepreneurship.

In his speech, Mr. Assaf shared with the students success stories of young entrepreneurs, stressing that the most successful people in the world of innovation, particularly in the digital economy, shined in their early working lives. He also pointed out that success in modern economy is open to all entrepreneurs, and accessible to all those aiming for development, especially in the digital domain.

Mr. Assaf then mentioned the difficulties and challenges young people face with the current recession and lack of job opportunities, and how these conditions play a role in urging young people towards creativity and innovation. He said: "Due to the rising unemployment ratio in developed countries, many young men and women commenced to establish their own companies based on innovation, especially in the domains of informatics applications and E-commerce because it does not require a large capital but new executable concepts."

Mr. Assaf also spoke about the possibility of youth in innovation and creativity in different areas in addition to digital economy and Internet, especially with the presence of many facilities, saying: "There are a number of programs available to entrepreneurs and emerging companies to obtain funds or soft loans, such as the "Kafalat loans for Entrepreneurs”, that can be accessed through BBAC, which contributed to the creation of many local success stories in various areas."

It is worth mentioning that BBAC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MUBS in 2015, in order to open up more opportunities for both students and bank’s staff for knowledge exchange, along with establishing experiences, aptitudes, and communication networks in different areas.