A discussion with Christine Assouad about entrepreneurship and Shark Tank Lebanon, exploring what truly shapes a winning pitch, how investors make decisions, and the entrepreneurial lessons Christine Assouad has gathered from decades of building, mentoring, and investing in startups.

• What Makes a Pitch Stand Out: Insider insights into how founders capture the Sharks’ attention through clarity, confidence, and a compelling story.
• How Investors Think: What the Sharks really look for—founder mindset, business fundamentals, traction—and how emotion, intuition, and data blend into real investment decisions.
• Common Founder Pitfalls: The most frequent mistakes entrepreneurs make on Shark Tank and what turns a hesitant “maybe” into a confident “yes.”
• Beyond the Show: What happens after the cameras stop rolling, the realities of due diligence, and Christine’s broader mission to empower entrepreneurs—especially women—through mentorship, The Tribe Fund, and her new book The Power to Say Yes.

Speakers Bio

Christine Assouad is a Lebanese entrepreneur, board advisor, and passionate advocate for women and entrepreneurship in the Middle East.

At just 22, she launched Dunkin’ in Lebanon, now a thriving business with over 45 branches across the country. Over nearly three decades, she has co-founded and exited multiple successful ventures in the food and beverage sector, such as Semsom, and currently sits on several F&B company boards across the region.

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In the past five years, her mission has evolved through The Catalyst of Growth, an impact-driven platform focused on empowering women and supporting entrepreneurs. She’s the driving force behind The Empowering Tribe, Her book Club, The Catalyst Leadership workshops for corporates and many more initiatives.

Her latest book, The Power to Say Yes, is a reflection of her journey, and a call to women everywhere to step into their full potential.

On the entrepreneurial side, she is presently a Shark on SharkTank Lebanon, and founded The Tribe Fund, a network ofLebanese investors backing startups.

She also started The Spark Program, an incubator takingearly-stage founders from zero to pitch-ready in just six weeks.

Academically, she holds a B.S. in Nutrition and Dietetics from AUB, twoMaster’s degrees (Food Science from McGill University and Marketing from ESABusiness School), and graduated from the nine-year President Leadership Programat Harvard Business School.

Outside the boardroom, she’s the first Arab woman to reach the NorthPole, a seasoned skydiver with 389 jumps, and an avid traveler who’sexplored 83 countries and counting.

And most importantly, she’s the proud mother of two daughters, both currently at university.

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Tickets are free, but booking is a must!

Places are limited, book here: https://tinyurl.com/kas-ihl

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This session will be online from the comfort of your home.

This session is part of the Free Online Series Program done by I Have Learned Academy in collaboration with KAS: "Thoughts & Talks for a Better Lebanon"