'Digital nomads' find a home in Beirut

WHEN SETTING up a new digital travel content company in the Middle East, two Irish entrepreneurs have taken a road much less travelled. Instead of basing operations in more obvious locations such as Dubai or Abu Dhabi, they chose Beirut.

Or rather, it chose them. Last November the pair answered a call for business plans from Berytech, a venture capital and business incubation firm based in the Lebanese capital.

Berytech offered prize money of $100,000 in investment funds, along with six months’ free space at its incubation centre.

Founders Eamonn Carey and Conor Purcell presented to Berytech with their chairman, Narain Jashanmal, who belongs to one of the United Arab Emirates' largest merchant families.

Their company Urbn (www. urbntravel.com) develops tourism and travel content for mobile devices, aimed primarily at travellers in the Middle East and North Africa.

Berytech liked the concept and offered Urbn a choice of investment in return for an equity stake or a smaller prize money fee and free incubation space.

“It was a tough decision but we went for a smaller amount of around $10,000. That’s enough for one full-time and one part-time member of staff for the initial six-month period,” said Carey.

Initially, three members of Urbn staff will be based at Berytech’s facility from next month. The company has the option to extend its stay there for a further six months at reduced rent rates.

“The hope would be that after 12 months, if not after six months, we will generate enough revenue to take our own space and look at our options,” said Carey.

Urbn is already in discussions with potential customers in the region about developing custom apps such as city guides for airline destinations or in-flight content for digital devices.

Irrespective of the award, Carey said Urbn always considered Beirut as a potential base because of its skilled indigenous workforce and low cost.

“Beirut is quite similar to how Ireland was 15 or 20 years ago, in some respects. There are a lot of highly skilled graduates who want to stay in the Lebanon and contribute to the economy.”

Self-described “digital nomads”, Purcell and Carey will not draw salaries initially from the venture.