We just wrapped up Lebanon's AI Agents hackathon co-organized with Develeb and sponsored by Google for Developers' Build with AI.
The event kicked off online on June 11 and continued through June 12 and the morning of June 13.
The hackathon's theme was "Life in Lebanon".
Participants were asked to tackle problems that people or businesses face in their everyday lives in Lebanon and imagine how AI agents could make life in Lebanon better.
13 teams presented their projects during the on-site event on June 13 at the Faculty of Sciences of the Lebanese University in Fanar, north of Beirut.
The atmosphere was great and collaboration was in the air.
Here's an overview of the projects presented.
CedarWatt AI (by Malak Abadi and Fatima Abadi)
A platform that helps Lebanese households verify generator bills to make sure they're fair, report power outages, and receive guidance from AI assistants on possible next steps.
Accessibility and blood donation platform (by Amani Ayach and Razak Dakkak)
A multi-purpose platform that connects blood donation requests with donors, offers an accessibility copilot for wheelchair users and for people with hearing disabilities through speech-to-text and speak-back capabilities.
Masrufe (by Kevin Abou Hanna)
A personal expense tracker that allows users to log spending directly through WhatsApp with native dual-currency support, a very Lebanese feature.
Sanad (by Mustafa Slim and Fatima Slim)
A chatbot providing immediate first-aid guidance while waiting for emergency responders.
Jibli (by Fadel Abou Hamdan and Mayada Abou Hamdan)
A delivery dispatch assistant powered by natural language. Jibli allows customers to place delivery orders in Lebanese, English, French, or any mix of them.
ailb (by Raphael Fakhri and John Karam)
A marketplace for products, services, and governmental paperwork, supported by an AI assistant that simplifies job listing, selling, and onboarding.
Tfaddal (by Alaa Bou Nassif and Hiba Tarabay)
A WhatsApp-based grocery marketplace with nearby store price comparison and natural-language ordering.
Muwaazaf (by Omar Mokhtar and Hanan Aref)
A comprehensive career copilot that analyzes resumes, matches them to job descriptions, benchmarks salaries, generates mock interviews, and tracks job applications.
Auto Apply Agent (by Elie Haddad and Charbel Ghanem)
An agent that searches for jobs matching specific requirements and automates the application process.
Two teams stood out during the event for another reason. They consisted of high school students who've just graduated.
They ended up winning third prize ex aequo.
Ali Hamieh and Ali Abo Khalil worked on SafeStay, an Android app that monitors Lebanon's rental WhatsApp groups, verifies relevant listings, and retrieves the owner's contact details. It supports both Arabic and English.
Gabriel Salem and Anthony Ghauch built Max, a voice-powered life assistant that interacts through WhatsApp to perform any task on your phone. It can find directions to a destination, look up a song and play it, schedule reminders, etc.
CedarRelief by Charbel Fares and Fadel Hammoud is a shelter management platform connecting shelter supervisors with specialized NGOs via WhatsApp.
It prioritizes requests by urgency, routes them to the most relevant NGO, and allows for real-time tracking.
Raqeeb by Mahdi Atat and Abbass Jaber is a platform that continuously monitors Lebanon from space to detect illegal quarrying and coastal encroachment.
Using satellite imagery and advanced vision models, it identifies meaningful changes, classifies them, and routes evidence to humans for action.
Many of the ideas presented felt mature enough to evolve into real startups. I hope the teams choose to pursue that path.
Lebanon's AI Agents Hackathon 2026 brought together innovators to build AI solutions for everyday challenges in Lebanon, with projects ranging from expense tracking and healthcare to job search and public services.
Fadi Boulos is the founder of Supportful, a software engineering consulting firm based out of Lebanon. He enables startups in the US and Europe to augment their teams with remote engineers from Lebanon, helping reduce the brain drain in the country and preserve the human capital of its small communities. Fadi has 20 years of experience working in the tech space in the UK, France, and Lebanon, and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Nantes, France.
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