Patrick Kass Hanna and Rabih El Khodr Lebanon Cisco Entrepreneur Institute

Meet Patrick and Rabih, new business associates and friends. They met at a “Growing a Business” workshop at AMIDEAST’s Cisco Entrepreneur Institute and, by the end of the workshop four months later, were business associates and friends.

Patrick is the founder of EMAGINE Web Solutions, a website development and online marketing agency based in Zgharta, in northern Lebanon. He enrolled in the “Growing a Business” workshop to take his business to the next level.

Rabih is the founder of STANDUP!, a start-up specialized in communication training and consulting with a focus on public speaking. He registered for the workshop to learn more about business fundamentals.

As the workshop sessions unfolded, Patrick discovered that his cool-headedness complemented Rabih’s fiery personality. Rabih, for his part, found in Patrick an ideal business colleague who could help him uplift the STANDUP! website.

Their bonds of entrepreneurial friendship were further consolidated when Rabih invited Patrick to be his guest at the 2013 ArabNet Riyadh conference, as STANDUP! was selected to be the Training Partner of the conference, helping fellow entrepreneurs pitch their businesses and ideas to a jury.

Only time will tell how this friendship will unfold, but Rabih already has an idea of the future: “I can definitely see more collaborations between STANDUP! and EMAGINE. Patrick has been instrumental in taking the digital presence of STANDUP! to the next level. Wait till you see the next version of our website!”

Patrick agrees: “We've been supporting each other ever since meeting at the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute at AMIDEAST. It was a pleasure helping Rabih out with the STANDUP! website and his invitation to ArabNet was a great networking and learning opportunity. I strongly believe that our friendship and business collaboration are at their very beginning.”

Both entrepreneurs have big plans for their ventures. Their training experience at the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute at AMIDEAST was a critical first step, as Rabih notes: “The ‘Growing a Business’ workshop helped us both believe in our capabilities. We couldn’t have started to think big without the push received by both the Institute and the workshop facilitator, Mr. Mohammad Shihan.”