IDEALAB- Call for Expert: Concept Initiation Sprint

Park Innovation is a mission-driven organization focused on innovation, combining a community project, coworking space, tech hub, and business accelerator to promote community development. With over six years of active engagement, Park Innovation offers unique programs and resources to empower youth and women with an emphasis on entrepreneurship and employability programs. The initiatives at Park Innovation align with its two core pillars:

1- Entrepreneurship, focusing on fostering innovation and empowering startups through tailored support, mentorship, and access to resources that enable sustainable business growth.

2- Employability and Employment, aiming to bridge the gap between education and employment by equipping youth with essential, market-relevant skills and practical experiences to thrive in a competitive workforce.

For the fourth batch in a row, Park Innovation is implementing Idea Lab in South Mount Lebanon, a 10-week entrepreneurship support program being implemented across Lebanon with the aim of providing the proper technical, financial, and business support needed for entrepreneurs to validate their solutions and turn their ideas into businesses. It allows entrepreneurs with Cleantech and Agrifoodtech solutions to learn how to identify their problem, validate their solution in the market, use the 1500 USD to build their first prototype, and create a strong team that has the capacity to take on challenges and scale their startup.

We are seeking an experienced and skilled trainer to lead the Concept Initiation Workshop, for onboarding startups and training them how to segment their customers, define what is the problem they are facing and build their solution architecture. Startups will learn to develop their unique value propositions.

Scope of Services

The selected expert will be responsible for the workshop from planning to execution, monitoring, and reporting. The duration of the in-person physical workshop is 5 hours including practical exercises, for 10 teams concurrently. Following the training, the expert will be leading 2 VIRTUAL (online) clinics: Value Proposition Clinic and Customer Persona one hour per clinic per startup for the 10 startups (20 sessions in total for the two clinics with all startups).

Key areas to be covered:

• Conduct a practical Concept Initiation Workshop for startups, focusing on customer discovery, validation, and refining startup concepts in the context of Agrifoodtech and Cleantech.
• Guide startups through the process of identifying customer pain points, testing assumptions, and validating their concepts.
• Support the creation of customer personas and segmentation strategies, using insights gathered through interviews and research.
• Facilitate the adoption of a Build-Measure-Learn mindset by mentoring startups in the application of Agile principles for iterative testing and refinement of their concepts. Emphasize qualitative validation through customer interviews and feedback loops to ensure problem/solution match and product-market fit.
• Assist startups in defining key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of their concepts, ensuring that progress is data-driven and aligned with the needs of the Agriculture and/or Clean Energy sectors.
• Encourage startups to create a clear and dynamic roadmap for their customer discovery and validation process, ensuring alignment with Lean and Agile principles for iterative improvement and adaptability.
• Lead two clinics: Value Proposition Clinic and Customer Persona Clinic, providing one-hour tailored sessions per startup (20 sessions in total).

1. The Value Proposition Clinic focuses on the Value Proposition Canvas, helping participants create a clear and compelling value proposition to refine their product or service offerings.
2. The Customer Persona Clinic delves into the characteristics of target customers and interview scripts, providing in-depth guidance on understanding potential customers and gathering valuable feedback.

• Guide startups in completing four hands-on exercises:

1. Problem Tree Analysis to map out core issues, their root causes, and effects.
2. Solution Architecture to outline the key components, processes, and technical requirements of their solution.
3. Customer Persona to develop detailed profiles of target customers, ensuring a clear understanding of their needs, behaviors, and pain points.
4. Value Proposition Canvas to align product or service offerings with customer needs and expectations effectively.

Qualifications and Requirements

This call welcomes applications from independent trainers/consultants or legal entities based in Lebanon.

• A Bachelor's degree in Business, Entrepreneurship, Engineering, or a related field is required, with preference given to candidates holding a Masters or PhD.
• 5+ years of experience guiding startups through early-stage development, customer discovery, and validation.
• Strong knowledge of Lean and Agile methodologies, focusing on iterative learning and efficiency.
• Experience in persona development, market segmentation, and structuring customer insights.
• Expertise in qualitative validation methods, including conducting effective customer interviews.
• Skilled in facilitating hands-on exercises that translate theory into actionable practice.
• Background in AgrifoodTech/Agriculture, or Clean Energy startups is a plus.
• Strong communication skills in English and Arabic, with an engaging and interactive training style.
• Availability to conduct the workshop at Park Innovation, Semkanieh- El Chouf (tiny.cc/pi-location)

Expected Deliverables

• The selected expert is required to provide a comprehensive curriculum outline, detailing the various subtopics to be covered during the workshop, along with estimated durations for each segment. 
• Upon approval, the selected expert will be responsible for delivering the 5-hour workshop and 20 total clinics in accordance with the approved curriculum.
• The trainer must complete a feedback form for each startup, one after the training and another after the clinics, detailing their observations and assessments.
• The expert shall be ready for an oral briefing about the startups right after the sprint to highlight all strengths and areas of improvement to the IdeaLab program manager.
• Furthermore, the trainer is required to adhere to the relevant procurement procedures (quotation, signature of a service agreement, invoice, receipt, MOF certificate and/or ID/Passport, programmatic deliverables).