Loujaina Karsifi, an 18-year-old girl living in Howch El Refka, Bekaa is nearing her last year in high school, and has two official exams instead of one. She faced many obstacles and crises in her life, and her mother was the only one who motivates her and pushes her away from darkness, so she taught her to find solutions in a way where she can find a positive escape, and learn from her experience.
Since her childhood, Loujaina used to do biological research, then she started to love everything related to economy. She learned many skills and talents, and she built a strong and flawless personality with many dreams.
As a result of this, she started attending theater training with the Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training (LOST), in the Messages through Art (MAT) program. This was her gate to success, where she met a lot of people who pushed her to participate in new courses, with one of them being entrepreneurship, in partnership with INJAZ, held at LOST Bedneyel. It was about one month, three days per week, and three hours per day.
She was able to test her leadership skills, and with some motivation from her coach, she gained trust and confidence to launch her project. She learned what she needed to turn her dream into reality, starting with industry and production, ending with an integrated business plan.
Loujaina then started preparation for her big day, and she was so excited to present her first dream, and on the other hand to be one of the winners who got approximately $2,000 of seed funding. She met the jury so confidently and fortunately was able to convince them with her project, and won.
This was Loujaina’s first step before the incubation, then her job started, to organize her project, and to market it. Her project was about mixing between science and arts, to add a new touch, a new supply of goods, used in many fields of products, such as food, books, flowers, furniture, and wooden crafts, like chemistry to make crystals and physics to create a special reflection. It is related to the way she represents this product in a totally unique way, and in the way she serves her customers. She changed the name of her project from Mosaic to Toca, and she still works and sells products today. In addition to that, her project is based on recycling. When it comes to selling and marketing, Loujaina relies on social media and the word of mouth. The reason for choosing this project and taking this initiative was for Loujaina to reach her next goals.
As mentioned, it was Loujaina’s last year in high school, and after that, she attended university to continue her studies in medicine. She knows that dreams have no limits, and she has trust and belief in herself that it would be a perfect 12 years of challenges and learning.
Loujaina wanted to thank everyone who supported her and believed in her dreams, especially LOST, INJAZ, Techwood, and UNICEF for offering all the resources that led her to success, and enabled other youth to keep dreaming big.
