LEBANON - Every year on August 12, International Youth Day recognizes the role young people play in shaping their communities and their future.
This year’s theme, “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations,” reflects the different realities young people experience while highlighting aspirations they often share: opportunity, decent work, participation and a sustainable future.
In Lebanon, those aspirations exist alongside significant challenges. Around 1.8 million people are between the ages of 10 and 24, while about one in three young people is not in education, employment or training. Youth unemployment reached 47.8 percent in January 2022, almost twice the adult rate.
Yet these figures tell only part of the story. Across the country, young Lebanese are also building businesses, experimenting with new ideas and creating solutions in areas ranging from social impact and sustainable agriculture to education, health and the circular economy. Some of those ideas are now reaching thousands of people, entering new markets and gaining recognition well beyond Lebanon.
DonaLeb: Turning Movement Into Social Impact
For Yasmine Darwich, technology became a way to connect personal wellness with social impact.
Darwich founded DonaLeb, a platform that connects activities such as walking and running to charitable causes and works with companies on employee wellness and engagement challenges.
She was only 24 when she was selected for the Forbes Middle East 30 Under 30 2024 in the Social Impact category. At the time, DonaLeb had recorded more than 50,000 app downloads and over 5,000 monthly active users and had developed partnerships with NGOs and institutions including Qatar’s 3-2-1 Olympic and Sports Museum.
DonaLeb has continued to grow. The company now reports a community of around 100,000 members, showing how an idea developed by a young Lebanese entrepreneur has grown into a wider platform connecting wellness, technology and giving.
Agriworm Solutions: Turning Agricultural Waste Into Value
At 29, Lebanese environmental engineer Sara Sleem was named to Forbes Middle East’s 30 Under 30 2025 in the Science and Technology category.
Sleem co-founded ASK Group, which includes Agriworm Solutions, a venture exploring an unusual solution to agricultural waste.
Agriworm uses mealworms to convert agricultural produce that cannot be sold into protein-rich inputs for animal feed and organic fertilizer. Research and development began in 2022, the venture was registered in 2023 and commercial sales began in early 2025.
By the time of Sleem’s Forbes recognition, Agriworm had reached a production capacity of around one tonne.
The model connects several challenges relevant to Lebanon at once: agricultural waste, food production, dependence on agricultural inputs and the need for more circular approaches to using resources.
Beaver Edu: Taking a Lebanese Educational Idea Global
A Lebanese educational startup gained international attention in 2026 when Beaver Edu won the Toy Award in the Startup category at Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg, one of the world’s largest toy fairs.
The startup was co-founded by siblings Jana and Rayan Barhouche. Jana, who was 26 at the time of the award, leads the company in Lebanon.
Beaver Edu developed a wooden construction system that allows children to design and build their own structures. Its patented safe cutting tool enables children to work with real wooden pieces, bringing together creativity, problem-solving and practical STEAM learning.
The company's progress was rapid. Before receiving the international ToyAward, Beaver Edu completed the AUB Innovation Park Build and Accelerate 2025 programme and won the $10,000 Chinyeh Hostler Social Innovation Award at the AUB President’s Innovation Challenge. It has also worked with schools in Lebanon to integrate its construction system into learning activities.
Its 2026 ToyAward placed a recently launched Lebanese educational product on an international industry stage and demonstrated how a locally developed idea can quickly move beyond its original market.
Antati: Taking Lebanese Science Into New Markets
When biomedical engineer Toufic Braidi launched Antati in January 2025, he set out to develop skincare products informed by science, Arab skin characteristics and the region’s climate.
Braidi was 25 when he was selected for Forbes Middle East’s 30 Under 30 2025.
Within its first year, Antati had sold more than 21,000 products worldwide. The company also stands out for maintaining its research, development and manufacturing operations through a laboratory in Lebanon.
The brand has since expanded its presence outside the country, including through retail and online platforms in Gulf markets.
For a young Lebanese founder, the business offers an example of how specialized scientific knowledge can become the basis for a locally developed product with international commercial reach.
FabricAID: From a Youth-Led Idea to an Internationally Recognized Social Enterprise
FabricAID began in 2017 when Omar Itani, then in his early twenties, started looking for a better way to collect and redistribute used clothing.
The idea developed into a circular social enterprise addressing two issues simultaneously: textile waste and access to affordable clothing.
Since then, FabricAID has collected, sorted and resold more than one million clothing items and reached more than 200,000 people. Its circular model also diverted 129.5 tonnes of textile waste from landfills in 2023 alone, according to the World Economic Forum.
The company has expanded beyond clothing collection into second-hand retail, upcycling and employment programmes. Its vocational activities have also created more than 115 full-time jobs for young people and refugees.
International recognition has followed that growth. Itani was named a UN Environment Programme Young Champion of the Earth early in FabricAID’s journey, and in 2026 he was selected among the Schwab Foundation’s Social Innovation Awardees.
What began as an idea developed by a young Lebanese entrepreneur has therefore grown into one of the country’s most recognizable examples of combining entrepreneurship, sustainability and social impact.
How Enmaeya Supports Youth
At Enmaeya, young people are not only an audience. They are contributors, storytellers and partners in shaping conversations around Lebanon’s development.
Through the Enmaeya Hub, the platform brings together training programmes, fellowships, competitions, grants, events and learning resources, making opportunities easier for young people to find and access.
Enmaeya also creates space for youth to develop and express their ideas. Through Youth Voices, blog competitions and publishing opportunities, young people can write about the issues affecting them, share their experiences and propose solutions.
Enmaeya Studio further amplifies youth-led businesses, organizations and community projects by documenting their work and bringing their stories to wider audiences.
On International Youth Day, Enmaeya remains committed to helping young people access opportunities, strengthen their voices and gain the visibility they need to turn their skills and ideas into action.
