With the scarcity of micro-finance institutions in Lebanon that only serve 11.5% of the population, many people and especially university students find themselves short on cash in certain urgent situations such as: paying for their tuition, acquiring tools and equipment for educational purposes, studying abroad or even paying the fees of standardized tests that are sometimes essential in their pursuit of higher academic achievements.

The opportunity of banking the unbanked is enormous in the region, and the need for an easy-to-use platform allowing university students to have access to funds in stressful times has long been left unfulfilled. Therefore, we decided to develop Dobo, a micro-lending platform targeting primarily university students, from the borrower’s perspective, and the alumni network, university faculty, angel donors, and university students looking to offer a helping hand to their peers on the platform, from the lender’s perspective.

By providing financial support to university students and connecting them with potential lenders from their community, Dobo reinforces a positive impact on society from both sides of the same coin. University students will get to achieve their goals and dreams of pursuing their education, or live an exchange semester in another country, and thus, further boosting their career. It is all done through the help of people who were in that exact same position a few years back, who lacked the luxury of having access to a platform like Dobo.