Bekdache, a Forbes 30 Under 30 Nominee

Sustainability in the Notebook World: A feature with Mohamad Bekdache, a Forbes 30 Under 30 Nominee

In today’s world, moving digitally in all forms of communication and expression has become the norm. Furthermore, in such a fast paced global society, being eco-conscious has often been overlooked when it comes to production and businesses. A lot has changed on our planet, and saving the environment on the ground is becoming a challenge.

For IC Alumnus Mohamad Bekdache, the traditional paper notebook will always stay relevant and authentic, and putting sustainability first is one step towards making this earth a better place through a business effort. In fact, Mohamad believed in this so passionately, that he turned the two ideas into his very own online notebook company: Dingbats.

This year, Dingbats caught the eye of Forbes Middle East, and Mohamad had the honor of being listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Middle East list for his innovative work. In the midst of all of his success and recognition, Mohamad is still humble and down to earth, and he has never lost sight of maintaining his values as an ecofriendly company. In this feature, Mohamad shares the story of his journey with the creation of Dingbats, and also reflects back on his heritage and roots.

Mohamad graduated from AUB with a degree in business administration, and went to the UK for his masters in supply chain and logistics management. He landed a job at Amazon UK, and then at Rolls Royce Airspace. It was during his time with Rolls Royce where the birth of Dingbats began in 2016. “I had some more free time. I spent my days in the afternoon until 2 am every day working to launch this business. For around a year”, Mohamad says.

In the beginning, Mohamad was working from his UK apartment.

“Basically we ordered some notebooks from my father’s factory and we got them to my apartment in the UK. We worked and tried to sell them. This is where we got feedback from customers about what they want from notebooks.”

It was also during this time where production shifted to become more sustainable and produce higher quality products. This has become one of the main components of the business altogether. Soon enough, Mohamad’s notebook business started picking up. “After the first Christmas season, the business really grew. We started to expand to other regions as well. Europe and even North America. This is where I decided to leave my job with Rolls Royce”, he explains.

“In the beginning all the notebooks were in my apartment. Then we started getting warehouses. After that, I came back to Lebanon and established offices here. Working from here is very good. It’s nice to be working from home, especially when most of the business is operating outside of the country. It’s good to stick to our roots as much as we can. And to hire Lebanese talent. I also get the advantage of working alongside the family offices as well.”

Mohamad’s idea for a notebook company started from home in Lebanon. “The business was basically an inspiration from the family business, which is the oldest company in Lebanon since the year 1800 working in

paper”, he explains. “I’ve always had a vision when I was small to really expand our family’s household. I’ve been living in a household where paper is everything. I really had a dream to try and bring that to the west as well, as much as possible.”

For Mohamad, the notebook is the most traditional thinking tool. Even today, journaling has become a big trend, particularly bullet journaling. The business was able to positively ride this wave, especially since the trend became increasingly popular. In recent years, Dingbats has expanded into other stationary supplies such as pens and backpacks, and Mohammad hopes to continue to create more products within the brand and expand to newer markets.

Another avenue Mohammad’s business went through was fully implementing the sustainable component. The goal of the brand in particular is to support and raise awareness on endangered animals and species, which is already an eco-friendly mission. On the business side of things, Mohammad tells us that sustainable production hasn’t necessarily been an industry standard. Businesses are often so caught up on profit, and the impact on the environment is overlooked. He explains that to be a sustainable business, you will be required to go out of your way or change a lot of processes, or procure a lot of materials that aren’t available to you or are not the norm. It is difficult to maintain and these raw materials are hard to get a hold of, and they are more costly. But the advantages of that are how you are sharing your message. There’s a way for companies to still focus on their profits and the impact that they have on people through their products and services and even do it in a green way. “The benefits to the planet are really good to ensure that we leave the planet to our children and our children’s children in a better way than what we have preceded in. What happened to the world especially in the late 90s and early 2000s had one of the biggest impacts on the environment and on climate change. Fighting that from now will really help instead of trying to help it 20-30 years down the line, where it will be too late. The sooner you do it, the sooner you will be able to solve it.”

What makes Dingbats different from other notebook companies is being 100% fully sustainable and ecofriendly, without sacrificing product quality. All of the paper used is FSC certified, meaning the trees used to make the paper were for that purpose only. Natural forests aren’t cut down in the process, which means it’s better for the environment. Dingbats is also vegan certified. In the notebook business, animal-based adhesives or leather covers, but Dingbats took their own alternative route. Lastly, Dingbats has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the UK to support endangered animals and raise awareness. 2% of UK revenue is donated to the WWF, and customers are really able to see how much they are donating. All in all, Dingbats is 100% green.

“We did see a gap in the market for our product that is sustainable and that is of high quality. The entire market became extremely mass-produced where brands started to sacrifice quality and sustainability. So we thought, why don’t we step in and provide people with a greener alternative for their everyday notebook.”

The founding of Dingbats and its overall success is absolutely impressive. “We started with only $100”, Mohammad tells me. Since then, it’s grown so much more.

“We’ve been open for 6 years. The business really grew substantially in the first 3-4 years”, Mohammad says. The biggest year for Dingbats was 2020-2021. Covid 19 most definitely brought up some concerns, but being an online business put Dingbats in an advantageous position. “We were able to compensate for that by having a lot of stock available and getting new warehouses. We doubled down on marketing to get people to buy from us. To get new customers. The first month of covid was a disaster, but we were able to manage it successfully to make it the best year so far.”

Like any successful business, Dingbats did have to navigate through some challenges. “Some of the challenges we faced were how to expand into these new regions in other parts of the world in the most efficient way possible”, Mohammad tells me. A big part of having an online

business is the question of how to convince customers to buy the product compared to others, especially when they are only viewing them online. Mohammad tells us that a big part of addressing this was through the concept of building a community, and telling the story behind the product. Since the brand is rooted in being green and supporting endangered species, Mohammad believes that it has a responsibility to be educators in the space of journaling or going green, and by sharing that knowledge. Not focusing on just selling the product. “We would try as much as possible to convince people to have a greener alternative. And raise awareness on problems around the world. We happen to do so by producing a product that is a notebook. But the main motive behind it is the message behind it.” In this sense, marketing and positive customer interactions are the biggest tools for sharing the meaning of the brand, and putting the product out there. “There’s a huge history behind the product, and it gives a lot of credibility to our brand. People naturally like what we stand for and switch over to us. They stayed with us along the years”, Mohamad explains.

Given the entrepreneurial success of Dingbats, along with its positive social and environmental impact, Mohammad was given the honor of being nominated for Forbes 30 Under 30. “When I got the news that I had won, it was a very very exciting moment”, Mohammad exclaims. He has worked so hard these last 6 years, and he points out that along the way, there haven’t been too many moments

to celebrate the little successes along the way. The nomination became one of those moments for him.

“The good thing is that it really does give credibility to the business. It is a reward that tells us that we are in the right direction. It was a sense of satisfaction because sometimes you get so caught up in working you even forget that there should be a moment even for you to celebrate what you have done so far, on a personal level too. It meant a lot.”

keeps us moving forward and pushes us to work even harder. For us this is just the beginning. In my opinion, we’re just really starting. The success is really when we are able to benefit a lot of lives and provide them with a lot of products that will help them in their everyday life. It’s definitely good to be here, but hopefully we can reach so many new lengths later on that are greater than that.”

As Mohammad reflects on his overall journey, he is grateful for his time at IC. He feels that the international school environment gave him the foundation to work internationally today, as well as providing emotional intelligence. Even the coursework and extracurriculars have played a role in his life too.

“I would never forget the technology class that we had, the art classes, the music classes. All of that has an impact on you in some way or another to shape your future self. I would also congratulate IC a lot for the amount of dedication that it puts for the extracurricular activities. It can be culture based, art or music based, or sports based. For me, I chose football, this is something that really taught me dedication, working hard, and having a sense of family or a team to be with all the time.”

Overall, Mohammad has combined his passion for entrepreneurship, the environment, and his family business background into Dingbats. He has worked incredibly hard to be where he is today, and IC congratulates him on this moment of success on his journey to many more great things. In the midst of all of his success, he stays true to his values and mission to be eco-friendly and sustainable, and this is admirable and inspirational on so many fronts. We can’t wait to see what all comes next in his bright future.