Hello, Bloomies!
February was an eventful month for our alumni community, marked by our 1st alumni meetup in 2024. Let’s dive into the highlights and the spirit of support that defines our community.
A Meetup Filled with Fun and Insights
Our February alumni meetup kicked off with a fun icebreaker activity that set the tone for an engaging event. Participants were asked to introduce themselves and their organizations and share which animal they believe best represents their organization and why. The answers ranged from kangaroos and pandas to unicorns and camels, reflecting the diverse and dynamic nature of our community, but we can confidently say all of the answers were extremely inspiring.
Highlights and Achievements
The meetup also included brief updates from participants, where they shared their biggest highlights of 2024 so far. From launching new products and winning awards to attending international training programs and expanding their teams, our alumni are making waves in their respective fields.
| Name | Org | Biggest Highlight in 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Hitaf Ghazal | Partners With Sun | * Registered Partners with Sun in the Netherlands. * boarded 3 talented team members. * Designed new mobile bakery for displaced people and war zones. |
| Sara ElKoussa | CancerCom | * Attending a training program in japan |
| Yasmine Darwich | DonaLeb | * Starring the cover of CIO Look magazine * Featured as one one of “Top 100 Most Promising Emerging Tech Startups In FinTech, Health And Wellbeing Sectors” by UAE today blog in 2023. * DonaLeb’s story is featured on Spark’s official website and Yasmine presented DonaLeb in 2023. |
| Aicha Abbas | Bookerang | * Promoting successfully bookerang in universities, collaboration with refuse, collaboration with local coffee shops for events, prototype of the first 2 products for bookerang |
| Layal Mostafa | Dekenet Al Nes | * People’s Choice Award - President’s Innovation Challenge - AUB |
| Wassim El Hage | Agonista | * Best entreprise empowering people with disabilities award winning by UN ESCWA |
| Ali Omar | Lebanese Spotlight | * Implementation of our cafe. *Launching website |
Help a Fellow
In line with our commitment to fostering a supportive community, we introduced the “Help a Fellow” initiative. This space is dedicated to alumni seeking assistance or offering help in various areas, from co-hosting events and fundraising opportunities to finding interns and collaborators.
The section has already seen a flurry of activity, with requests for help, finding local distributors, establishing systems for business operations, and more. It’s heartening to see our community come together to support each other’s needs and ambitions.
| Name & Org | I Need Help With: | Reference/Link |
|---|---|---|
| Safty, Bloom | We’re looking for alums who might be interested in co-hosting and facilitating some of the ACSI3 bootcamp sessions. | If you’re interested, just email me: omar.essafty@bloom.pm |
| Sarah, Darrebni | We are looking for two things basically: * Fundraising Opportunities (connections with network, grants) * Interns for these (until we hire an Hr): digital marketing, website development and data, PR) |
To contact us: sarahbanna48@gmail.com |
| Hitaf, Partners with Sun | We are looking for a local distributor, and sales persons that are willing to work based on stock option agreement. | If you can support or interested please contact us info@partnerswithsun.com |
| Ali, Lebanese Spotlight | I need help to establish a system for coffee to controls in/out w service | aliomarali@lbspotlight.org |
| May, Charpy Biochar | We are in need for fundraising programs and sign an agreement with environmental shops in Mount Lebanon, | may.issa@hotmail.com |
| Wassim, Agonista | We are in need to communication expert to do more collaborations with universities and organizations to spread more awareness about Agonista and to get more clients to our catering services | info@agonista.org |
| Yasmine Darwich - DonaLeb | * We are continuously on the lookout for HRs and heads of People & Culture to engage their team & help them make an impact. * We also currently have an open founding team member role call, so if you know anyone, have them email me their CV  * Connections with global NGOs to onboard them to DonaLeb (preferably small to mid sized — not UN like // and not from Lebanon — we already have too many there) |
yasmine@donaleb.com |
Looking Ahead: Making Our Meetups More Valuable
As we continue to organize alumni meetups, we’re exploring ways to make them even more valuable and meaningful for our community. Ideas include inviting expert guests, sharing opportunities and resources, providing well-being support, and having fun with cross-benefits and perks like website development and continued mentorship.
We’d like to extend a big thank you to all the alumni who participated in the February meetup and contributed to the “Help a Fellow” section. Your enthusiasm and willingness to support each other are what make our community truly special.
Until next time, keep blooming!