Their parents were farmers; therefore, they decided to come up with Greentech, a project that combines both of their passions: technology and agriculture. They knew about GIL’s entrepreneurship programme by participating in INJAZ Lebanon’s workshops and following all their interesting content on social media.

“We decided to enroll with GIL in order to present our idea, show our potential, and get all the help we need in developing our project. We started last year when we joined the GIL’s entrepreneurship programme and we finished this year participating and winning in Jawa2ez GIL which gave us another push in order to start our project,” said Joseph.

GIL is powered by UNICEF Lebanon and funded by the Kingdom of Netherlands. It helps youth kickstart their small businesses through trainings and monetary support. Before GIL they were struggling; developing their project into a successful business was extremely challenging.

Greentech is a smart greenhouse with an automated system that regulates the climatic conditions inside it which helps farmers achieve better results. It is unique because it reduces energy and water waste, and it allows farmers to plant crops in any season. They came up with this idea after interviewing many farmers and discussing the problems they face while planting crops in standardized greenhouses. “We decided to find a solution to these problems. Now we are still in the development phase, we faced some obstacles before, thus we were not able to complete it as planned, but now with GIL’s training and funding, our project will finally see the light,” said Joseph.

“We are glad that we got the opportunity to participate in GIL since we gained a lot of experience and were able to take our project to a whole new level. We would like to introduce farmers to a new technology and I believe that with GIL we can change perceptions around us and around our community,” he added.

Joseph and Khalil aim to register their startup and market it well in order to reach as many farmers as possible. They would love to stay in Lebanon and work towards finding practical solutions to everyday problems. They encourage youth to participate in GIL and gain the needed experience to grow their business ideas.

“I want to tell youth that one event one meeting one moment could change their lives. I urge them to try. It takes hard work but you will learn a lot. For me GIL was a beautiful experience,” concluded Khalil.