BDL Accelerate 2014 will showcase 53 influential high profile speakers, 33 of which are flying in from over 20 countries from Singapore to San Francisco. The speakers will share their Blueprints for Success in the keynotes and panels. They will share their insights into developing and expanding startups, emerging trends, disruptive innovation, accelerators, investment strategies, opportunities and challenges faced in the different ecosystems, and more.

In parallel to that, there will be 8 workshops that feature small group sessions with some of the key speakers, throughout the 2 days. The workshops will cover many specialized and focused topics educating entrepreneurs every aspect of the start up industry from concept to fundraising to branding to expanding and more.

Speaking at the Opening Ceremony will be Governor of Banque du Liban Riad Salameh, UK Ambassador Tom Fletcher, Francois Bassil, and Mohammad Chouceir. The Opening Keynote will be delivered by Alexander Asseily, the Chairman and Co-Founder of State and founding CEO of Jawbone. Other speakers and panelists include CEOs, investors, and seasoned entrepreneurs.

Seedstars World will host a competition at Banque du Liban Accelerate 2014 to find the best entrepreneur. 30 exceptional startups have been selected from over 100 applications to pitch. They will partake in the lightning round on the first day where they will each have a minute to pitch their startups. The finalists will be announced following the lightning round and proceed to the finalists round the next day for a chance to be “Seedstars Beirut Regional Winner” and represent Lebanon at the global competition in Geneva, Switzerland.