Hosted at Beirut Digital District, and in partnership with Endeavor Lebanon and Offshore, supported by LebNet, the Ignite 2025 Lebanese Founders Forum brought together over 300 founders, entrepreneurs, investors, and members of Lebanese diaspora at BDD for an afternoon of founder-led conversations on building, scaling, and leading global companies.
Beyond the impressive companies represented collectively valued at $15B+, what truly defined the forum was the clarity, depth, and openness with which Lebanese founders shared how they are building category-defining businesses while staying deeply connected to their roots.
Opening Reflections from the Heart of BDD
In his opening remarks, Mouhamad Rabah, CEO of Beirut Digital District, shared:
“Today, from the heart of Beirut Digital District, with over 4,200 community members, we continue to reinforce BDD’s mission: strengthening the ecosystem by bringing founders, talent, and global opportunities together.”
Ignite 2025 embodied that mission. By bringing together Lebanese founders and the global diaspora at BDD, the forum highlighted the value of creating spaces where meaningful connections are built between local and global markets in service of strengthening the Lebanese entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Shaping the Future of AI in Lebanon
A keynote by Kamal Shehadi, Lebanon’s Minister of Technology & AI, highlighted newly signed global partnerships aimed at strengthening Lebanon’s AI ecosystem and accelerating national digitization efforts.
Building, Scaling, and Thinking Global
Panel I — Brains Abroad: How the Lebanese Diaspora Is Powering Global Innovation
A panel on how Lebanese founders in the diaspora are building industry-defining companies and why thinking global from day one is not an ambition, but a prerequisite for scale.
Moderated by Habib Haddad, featuring:
- Jad Antoun — Co-Founder & CEO, Huspy
- Sami Bejjani — Co-Founder & CFO, Kitopi
- Tony Jamous — Co-Founder & CEO, Oyster
- Antoine Jebara — Co-Founder, JumpCloud
Panel II — Scaling from Lebanon: Stories of Grit, Growth, and Global Impact
Founders who built and scaled companies out of Lebanon shared how resilience, adaptability, and problem-solving under constraint have become defining strengths of Lebanese talent on the global stage.
Moderated by Omar Christidis, featuring:
- Fadi Daou — CEO, Multilane
- Wael Bizri — Co-Founder & CEO, Toothpick
- Nael Halwani — Co-Founder & COO, Toters
- Carole Rizkallah Alsharabati — Founding Partner, Siren Analytics
Fireside Chat: Leading Through Hyper-Growth
The forum closed with a fireside chat featuring Tarek Mansour, Co-Founder & CEO of Kalshi, moderated by Anthony Ghosn.
Tarek spoke candidly about the reality of leading through hyper-growth, describing entrepreneurship as both deeply rewarding and profoundly demanding. He shared how Kalshi came close to shutting down more than twenty-five times, navigating regulatory challenges and high-stakes decisions along the way.
No one is inherently more unique or special, he noted; founders are simply people figuring things out in real time and working relentlessly through the chaos.
Once a company facing significant legal challenges around its model, Kalshi has since emerged as a decacorn, redefining its category and demonstrating what perseverance and clarity of vision can unlock at scale.
By bringing together founders from Lebanon and the global diaspora, Ignite 2025 reinforced a shared commitment to strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem through meaningful conversations, global connections, and events that unite the Lebanese community, wherever in the world they are building from.
