Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Village Capital Partner: Berytech
About Huston…
Huston, a natural entrepreneur, is receiving his MA in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He spent fall 2011 working with Village Capital as a Frontier Market Scout in Beirut and also as global program associate. Huston currently sits on the board of Transitions Global, a non-profit organization that provides aftercare to survivors of sex-trafficking, in addition to starting two organizations of his own, New World Innovation, and Wikisway. Before coming to MIIS Huston received his BA from the University of Oregon. More than anything, he believes that the most powerful and effective way to facilitate change is through market based solutions and hopes to continue working in the impact investment field in the future.
In the Field…
While working to develop a Village Capital Program in Beirut with Berytech, Huston also had the opportunity to do some traveling and spread the good news of Village Capital and peer-led accelerators. In fact, he was invited to Qatar to lead a 2-day workshop on Village Capital and impact investment. In attendance were the Qatar Development Bank and the Qatar Science and Technology Park. As a result of this workshop, Village Capital is in the process of becoming a lead consultant for the Qatar Development Bank’s social enterprise efforts.
Back in Beirut, Huston had the pleasure of working with Raja Mubarek, the founder of 2BDesign. 2BDesign is a multiple bottom line organization that seeks to restore, or “upcycle,” older home fixtures and turn them into luxurious pieces of art. Raja makes it a point to employ differently abled individuals and those from the Base of the Pyramid at above minimum wage in order to provide them with sustainable living means. 2BDesign is also actively seeking to preserve Lebanese culture and architecture by restoring older homes and drawing attention to their historic value. Huston worked with Raja to further develop his international distribution chain and is planning to help them with a multimedia marketing campaign.
