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H
e can’t stop sketching. Even at
night he wakes up and grabs the
notebook by his bedside. Oblivi-
ous of the time, Sherif Maktabi jots down
the designs and ideas in his head.
“Everything I see around me, I want to do
better,” said Sherif, an IB1 student. “I want
to do it more efficiently, in a new way.”
And so it happened that as he surfed the
web, he came across a call for a competi-
tion by the World Bank. The Youth Entrepreneur Competition
required Lebanese participants to choose one multinational
company and write a proposal to the CEO of the company for
a possible business plan. The World Bank project, in partner-
ship with George Frem Foundation, Bader Young Entrepreneur
Program, Lebanese Transparency and the American Lebanese
Chamber of Commerce aimed at encouraging an entrepreneur-
ial spirit among the Lebanese.
The idea was to think of a way for a corporation to be profit-
able while addressing a social dilemma in Lebanon.
Sherif applied for the competition and was accepted. Barely
16, he was the youngest of the 40 participants competing
against university graduate students and professionals.
“The way I saw it is that the only advantage they (the other
participants) had is that they knew how to write proposals and
I didn’t,” he said. “But I could learn how to do it.”
A few years ago during the “Design Studio” course in 4eme,
he discovered his real passion: designing creative solutions to
every day items.
Since then, Sherif continuously finds himself redesigning the
world around him. His room, home – even his neighborhood
looks different in his mind. He would stare for hours from his
bedroom window at a construction site and configure the lay-
out plan in his mind. He would then redesign it differently.
It wasn’t long before he formed his idea
for the competition. In his proposal, he
created a new project, the Lebanese Biodie-
sel Iniative (LBI) which would recycle used
vegetable oil into Biodiesel and glycerin.
LBI and Shell – the multinational company
he chose – would then partner up to offer
Biodiesel to the Lebanese market, effec-
tively replacing diesel but sill providing the
same energy with less carbon emission and
without toxic effects. Biodiesel can then be used by factories,
trucks, buses, building heating systems and electricity genera-
tors.
The problem, however, that it was June and final exams were
looming ahead. Somehow, Sherif had to struggle with a de-
manding study schedule and the competition.
He would spend all after school hours and many nights
working on his project.
“My parents were angry,” he said. “They wanted me to sleep.
My father kept telling me to think about it during the day not
at night.”
But Sherif couldn’t tear himself away from his project.
Three weeks later, he submitted his proposal. A month later,
he was chosen be one the 12 semi-finalists and invited to pres-
ent his project to a panel of judges. Three finalists made the cut.
On September 18, Sherif found out that he was the winner. In a
ceremony attended by the Minister of Economy and other offi-
cials, Sherif was handed an award certificate and $1500 check.
“I feel so satisfied,” he said. “I really worked hard on it and
I’m glad they think I deserve it.”
Back at school, he is now working on many other ideas. For
as usual, the ideas don’t stop.
Among them is turning IC into a more environment friendly
school.
Not too young
to compete: IC
student wins
World Bank
competition
IC Features
Sherif with
World Bank country
representative
Demba Ba
receiving the Award
Certificate