Since 2011 Paris · London · Tunis · Doha · New York

We back founders
for five years — not five months.

EDN is a nonprofit incubator. We bet on those the rest of the ecosystem overlooks — and we stay through year three, when 60% of startups fail. Since 2011.

Apply to Promo 11 → Discover the program

Founders backed

100+

since 2011, on four continents

Year-3 survival

93%

vs. 40% national average

Time invested

5 yrs

guaranteed by program, not by promise

Cities

Paris · London · Tunis · Doha · New York

/01 — The program 5 years · decreasing intensity

Incubation + acceleration,
from day one.

No observation phase. From year 1, we install you in our offices and run two parallel tracks: product launch and first revenues + legal structuring and first round. Intensity decreases over the years, presence stays.

See the full program →

Year 1 · Launch (incubation + acceleration, max intensity)
Year 2 · Traction (prove the market)
Year 3 · Structuring (Series A, pivot if needed)
Year 4 · Scale (international expansion)
Year 5 · Autonomy (alumni, mentor for next promo)

/02 — Founders They came through EDN.

Three of thirty,
at three different points.

Filter by sector, geography or promo. Click for the full story.

See all 100+ founders →

Palm trees, Southern Tunisia — climate and agriculture

Year 5 · Promo 2019

"In year 3, I wanted to quit. EDN didn't say "hang in there". They said "let's see together whether to pivot the business." EDN helped me pivot in year 4. That's where an incubator really shows its worth."

Mehdi K.

Fintech · Seine-Saint-Denis · Promo 2022

/03 — Commitments Beyond founders

A committed
ecosystem.

EDN supports initiatives that change lives — #IStandByYou and its programs (Lebanon, Tunisia, Africa, Girls), Race for Africa, partners like Wallah We Can and EIGHT. See all our commitments →

#IStandByLebanon

Companies stand for Lebanon

Secular, apolitical initiative: companies giving back 25 to 100% of profits for health, education and reconstruction in Lebanon.

istandbylebanon.org →

#IStandByAfrica

1000 courts, 1000 schools

Global program: courts in schools, solar electrification, digitalization, girls' empowerment through sport (#IStandByGirls), and the Race for Africa charity race that funds it all and gifts sneakers to young girls.

Learn more →

#IStandByGirls · Race for Africa

Empowerment through sport

Two strands of the #IStandByAfrica program: empowering girls through sport, and the Race for Africa charity race — each participant gifts a pair of sneakers to a young girl.

See the program →

#IStandByTunisia

Africa, at country scale

Local arm of #IStandByAfrica in Tunisia: sports courts, girls' empowerment, solar electrification and digitalization of underserved schools. Includes the Southern Tunisia carbon offset project.

Discover →

Wallah We Can

Partner

Public schools, reinvented for kids

NGO by Lotfi Hamadi, present in 6 countries on 3 continents. School rehabilitation, extracurricular clubs, Ecolibree (period-poverty), Crescendo (music). 9,000+ children, 10+ schools.

wallahwecan.org →

EIGHT

Partner company

Graduate with your startup

Bachelor's to Master's degrees in Beirut. Students don't look for a job at graduation — they have a startup already running, plus structured post-graduation support. Free for Lebanese beneficiaries through #IStandByLebanon.

eightinternational.group →

PROPOSE A PARTNERSHIP

Carrying an initiative?

Nonprofit, NGO, mission-led company: if your project is about education, health, sport, environment or empowerment, write to us. Let's see how EDN can support, relay or join forces.

Write to us →

/04 — Navigate Four pillars, four colors, one community