A BUILDER & ARTIST RESIDENCYAKKAR · LEBANON · 34.56°N

COMEHOME.BUILDLEBANON.

The compound from above
Board-formed concrete

Move in for three months. Build a company, get strong, lift a region.

COHORT I — Q1 2027
COME HOME✦BUILD LEBANON✦عودة✦DON'T ARGUE BUILD✦FIND THE OTHERS✦COME HOME✦BUILD LEBANON✦عودة✦DON'T ARGUE BUILD✦FIND THE OTHERS✦

The
manifesto

/ 00
01
Don't argue — build.Ideas are cheap and Lebanon is tired of talk. Yalla measures one thing: what you ship.
02
Don't flee — come home.The diaspora is our greatest export. Yalla is the import. Half of every cohort flies back.
03
Find the others.Twenty-five people who refuse to give up on this country, under one roof, for one season.
The road climbing through the Akkar hills
The arrival — 2h north of Beirut

A world
away.

Four rhythms.
One season.

/ 01
01BuildShip all day in a room full of people doing the same. Pitch nights, demo days.
02BurnDawn workouts over the valley, chef-cooked meals. Leave fitter than you came.
03EarnRaise-ready, warm-introduced. Yalla takes 1% — wrapped in a fund that grows with you.
04AwdaQuarterly: the gates open. Pitches, BBQ, music, and an artist marking the land.
The residency in the hills at golden hour
700 metres up · cedar highlands above Qoubaiyat

Concrete, cedar,
a long view.

The place

/ 02 — THE WHOLE SPACE
The compound — 700m
The pool, at dusk
Your room
One long table
The library
The gym
The build floor
The pavilion — Alex Khoury
The terrace
Under the stars — no city light for miles
Structure
Board-formed concrete, timber-grain left visible, poured on the terraces
Power / Water
Solar + battery + generator, 24/7 · stored & filtered spring water
Legacy
One new pavilion a year by a marquee Lebanese architect — first by Alex Khoury
Sky
A rooftop open to the stars — the first of the public observatory nights

The soul

/ 03 — LIFT THE VILLAGE YOU LIVE IN
Akkar youth in the makerspace

The makerspace

Akkar's kids learn to build what the residents build. The skills stay in the region.

The communal table

One table

A resident chef, local produce, and a table where the whole community eats together.

The deal

/ 04
All-in / month
$500
  • Room, chef meals, gym, Wi-Fi, every program
  • $900 for a private solo room
  • 3-month commit · 1-month trial weeks
  • 2–3 scholarship seats per cohort for Akkar
The equity
1%
  • Of companies founded at Yalla only
  • Funded startups carved out · cash buy-out option
  • Held in the Yalla Index — a fund that grows
  • For-profit residency + non-profit foundation
The Awda quarterly gathering
عودة — The Return · four times a year

Come to
Awda.

Where

/ 05 — NORTHERN TIP OF LEBANON
THE RESIDENCY · AKKAR HIGHLANDS~700M
RENÉ MOUAWAD (QLAYAAT) AIRPORT~30 MIN
QOUBAIYAT & THE CEDAR FORESTS~25 MIN
TRIPOLI~55 MIN
BEIRUT~2 HOURS

Join the
founding five

/ 06

YALLA.
BUILD LEBANON.

APPLY ↗VISITINQUIRE
🌿

YOU'RE IN.

We'll be in touch. Yalla.

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