The agricultural sector can assist to contribute significantly in generating capital income for a country in many ways. It can lead to the production of more goods supporting industrialization and increasing employment.

How to make agriculture as a positive contributor to the Lebanese Economy?

In this panel we host 5 speakers:
- Jad Abou Arrage - Agriculture University Instructor & Development Practitioner
- Marc Beyrouthy - Nature by Marc Beyrouthy
- Nicolas Gholam - Ardi Ardak
- Soha Nasser - Agrytech by Berytech
- Youssef Fares - Zejd

Moderated by Randa Farah - Founder & Manager of Lebtivity.com & I Have Learned Academy, University Instructor

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More info about the speakers below:
- Jad Abou Arrage - Agriculture University Instructor & Development Practitioner

Agriculture Engineer, holding a Master degree in Development, Environment and Societies from the Catholic University of Louvain-Belgium and a PhD in Environment and Technological Innovation from the University of Milan-Italy, Jad Abou Arrage has Fifteen years of experience in project management and evaluation, agricultural and rural development, natural resources management, and strategic planning for rural tourism and ecotourism. He works as a consultant for more than ten local and international organizations. Since 2014, he has been an Assistant Professor at the Lebanese University where he teaches environmental economics, sustainable landscape management, disaster risk reduction, agriculture and food marketing, research methodology and ecotourism. Mr. Abou Arrage is an active member of the Lebanon Mountain Trail Association and PolyLiban Association aiming to promote hiking and cycling as means for responsible tourism development and cultural/natural heritage promotion and preservation.

- Marc El Beyrouthy - Nature by Marc Beyrouthy

Marc is the General Manager of Nature by Marc Beyrouthy, Anchor – MTV Lebanon, Formal Advisor to the Minister of Environment in charge of biodiversity, eco-tourism, and sorting from source Agricultural engineer, PHD
Since then, he has authored and coauthored several scientific publications and Lectured in the fields of agriculture, environment, medicinal plants, biological activities of essential oils, microbiology, ethnopharmacology, adulteration and authentication of plants and spices.
Lecturer at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences - Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) and former head of Agricultural Sciences Department.
In addition to that, he has more than 1400 TV appearances and he is an anchor in a daily popularized scientific TV show “Nature” at MTV - Lebanon.

- Nicolas Gholam - Ardi Ardak

Outreach & Operations of the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the American University of Beirut; as well as cofounder of 2 startups: Karya for rural and experiential tourism and Mawsam, an online market place for small scale producer.
Under a project call Ardi Ardak, we are helping people to plant their balconies and roofs by providing seeds, seedlings and technical direction, as well as helping people who abandoned their lands to re-invest in them by providing assessments and feasibilities, as many arable lands aren’t being used which creates a deficit to the local and circular economy.

- Soha Nasser - Agrytech by Berytech

Soha is the Agri-food Specialist at Berytech. She’s a passionate food engineer who focused her career on innovation but also got a wide experience in different business functions during her six years between Lebanese food industries. At Berytech, Soha supports startups in their journey of validation and product development.

- Youssef Fares - Zejd

Youssef Fares is an entrepreneur, passionate about the olive oil industry, and holding a BS in agricultural engineering from USEK, Lebanon and a Masters in agro-food management from ESSEC, Paris. Olive oil connoisseur and true subject matter expert, Youssef founded in 2004 Olive Trade, that provides a comprehensive range of carefully crafted olive-derived products, cured in the pure Mediterranean tradition with a contemporary twist. Its flagship brand, Zejd, a unique gourmet selection of signature products, went on to achieve cult status through global market outreach since 2006, winning multiple international awards and industry recognitions, and was later made available to the Lebanese public in 2013, with the opening of its concept store House of Zejd – one of its kind in Beirut. Youssef is a strong advocate of valorizing the cultural heritage and promoting the Lebanese terroir and knowhow. He’s an adept of fair trade, eco-friendliness, organic farming, sustainability, and an evangelist of good cultural and manufacturing practices. He is a pioneer in raising the quality and innovation bar to compete at global scale.

- Moderator:
Randa Farah is the founder of I Have Learned Academy & Lebtivity.com as well as a University Instructor at USJ.
Randa has an extensive track record in HR Management and Recruitment across multinationals in various industries. Her practical expertise is supported by her degrees in HR Management, Organizational Psychology & Business Advertising and Marketing. Her specialization is Happiness at Work, Stress and Wellness at work. In addition to being a corporate trainer, Randa has been an instructor at USJ for over 10 years in HR Management & Organizational Psychology Courses for Master students. Randa is an international speaker, sharing her passion for HR, Happiness at Work & Soft Skills at conferences & trainings across Europe, The Gulf and the Middle East.‍
She is also the founder of Lebtivity.com, calendar for events, keeping Lebanon updated about all types of cultural, sports, artistic, culinary, events in Lebanon.

Tickets are free, but booking is a must!

Places are limited, book here:

https://ihjoz.com/events/6030#checkout

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This session will be online from the comfort of your home.

This session is part of the Free Online Series Program done by I Have Learned Academy in collaboration with KAS: "Thoughts & Talks for a Better Lebanon"