Zeina Khoury Daoud grew up picking olives and pressing them into olive oil in her hometown in Northern Lebanon. She didn’t know it at the time, but with each new bottle she gave away to family and friends, she was building her career. In 1996, when she was 22, she began selling her olive oil—now packaged in an artisanal bottle and branded Le Potager—to gourmet shops within driving distance.
Le Potager soon added home-grown spices and teas to its offerings, and by 2010 Daoud’s next enterprise, Le Potager Bio, was delivering 100 percent organic, local, seasonal produce boxes to clients. The new venture was so successful that in 2016 Daoud was awarded BLC Bank’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award. BLC Bank, an IFC client, is known for backing Lebanon’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—especially those owned by women, who face disadvantages ranging from lack of collateral to restrictive legislation.
Le Potager grew by 35 percent after Daoud won her award. She was then mentored through BLC Bank’s network, whose guidance helped her access new markets for the Le Potager Bio boxes in the Middle East.
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