Penso’s leadership to support UN backed start- ups by hosting series of marketing masterclasses

The leaders of growth consultancy PENSO are in Beirut, Lebanon this week to host a series of marketing masterclasses for a United Nations backed initiative supporting socially conscious startups from across the Middle East.

The founder and CEO of PENSO, Con Frantzeskos (right), and Darius LaBelle (left), general manager of PENSO based in Dubai, will help train and mentor businesses that are part of Elevate – Lebanon’s first social impact accelerator which is a joint venture between UNICEF and AltCity providing education and training for startups.

Elevate provides funding, customised training and mentorships to startups that are working to address one or more of UNICEF’s seven critical challenge areas including education, health and nutrition and social policy, across the Levant.

During the week the PENSO team will host a series of lectures and workshops on marketing science, branding, advertising, content, digital, marketing automation, design, measurement and data to entrepreneurs of nine starts ups in the Elevate program.

Says Frantzeskos: “We are honoured to have been invited by the team at Elevate to bring PENSO’s expertise in marketing and growing businesses to inspiring women in the Middle East who are behind some really innovative ideas that can make a real difference to the lives of people who need it most.”

The startups PENSO will be helping include Vaxy-Nations, a digital health diary that keeps users and care providers informed of health-related conditions or alerts regardless of where their journey takes them. It is currently being trialed with Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Another is KwikSense, plug and play sensors that can track the temperature and environmental living conditions within refugee shelters in real-time which helps the UN and NGO partners decide how to best distribute services.

Says LaBelle: “The conflict in Syria has led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and UN agencies including UNICEF are leading the charge in alleviating the situation of vulnerable children and their families in countries such as Lebanon and Jordan by supporting businesses that address practical issues faced by refugees on a daily basis. We look forward to sharing our experience of working with startups to help these fledgling businesses flourish.”

PENSO grows businesses from startups to scaleups and entrepreneurs to enterprises using strategy, creative, digital and design all underpinned by marketing science. With offices in Melbourne, Dubai and San Francisco, PENSO’s clients include some of the world’s leading brands such as Emirates, Hilton Worldwide, 3M, and ANZ.