BEIRUT: Jaiir Massoud, 24, has been working as an event planner ever since he was 16 years old. “My friends and I would talk to a pub owner, reserve the place for a night and work on our public relations skills to invite people. Same thing we do now but on a much larger scale.”
Along the way, he conceived Billionaire’s Management.
The group throws pop-up parties that have shown a unique vibe,one that is different from the many marque nightclubs that populate the city, while not boasting the same unaffordable expense.
The Billionaire’s Management team has developed and thrown such events as ‘Straight Outta Beirut’, ‘The Cookout’, and ‘The Truth’; with all loosely coming under the RnB and hip hop umbrella, Massoud recounted for Annahar.
“It was supposed to be a nightclub at first, but we faced problems when the owner of the club we wanted to buy had debts. At 22 years old it’s a risky move to take, so we backed down and changed the plan,” he said.
A busy student, entrepreneur, and a dedicated party-thrower, Massoud is smart to avoid debt.
He is currently studying Marketing at the Lebanese German University, and is planning on pursuing his masters in event planning at Michigan State University in order to gather even more knowledge to help with his project and its future expansion.
Massoud juggles three jobs while still finding time to dedicate to his family and studies – the life of a multi-tasking university student. “My day goes as follows: I shower in the morning, chat with my mother, go to Kahwet Leila where I’m a head waiter trainer, plan and overview Billionaire’s Management’s events – which is stressful up until the last second of each party – and I also help my father in the family-owned supermarket.”
It all started with the help of friends and the then-new business partners whom Massoud had met and befriended during social events. “I had ElieMattar, a friend from college, Joe Moukawam and Brent Ragsdale, from different parties, as well as Martin (who prefers being called by his stage name ‘Bling’) an old friend and neighbor, helping me with all organizations,” Massoud said.
The group started back in 2014 with one event at Urban Factory, a popular pub located in Mar Mikhael, which then evolved into a weekly event for almost five months, then was bought by the management recently this year. While in parallel, they had events every Thursday at two other bars in Jounieh: Loud and Celtics.
Just like every startup goes through ups and downs, they faced their first bump when early members had different visions, and thus went their own way, recounted Massoud.
“We first experimented ‘The Cookout’ in summer of 2015. It’s an American style BBQ cookout, a family and friends gathering where you have burgers and hotdogs with good music playing as you get to know one another in broad daylight,” Martin, co-founder, said.
Consequently, the core group divided into specialties ranging from promoters and marketers, to DJs and PRs. “We’ve had DJ Rob and Normz by our side ever since the beginning of Billionaire’s Management. After the success of the second ‘The Truth’, we formed a marketing team made of five or so people, then recruited public relations persons to maximize each event’s exposure,” Massoud added.
Martin, 22 year-old – of Gambian origins, residing in Lebanon for over six years now – is the co-founder of Billionaire’s Management as well as Massoud’s biggest supporter. “We’ve been through a lot while crafting this idea and every other idea that falls under it; it’s both stressful and educational, but working with Jaiir created a brotherly bond between us,” Martin said.
“I can say I’m the guy who set him straight on the path he was leading,” he jokingly added.
In the same fashion, other members have expressed enthusiasm when it comes to working and being part of the team. “I love the management’s work and how they handle their events and never lose the main purpose. Jaiir and Bling treat the whole management as a big family so working with them is great,” Chantal Chamoun, member of Billionaire’s Management, noted for Annahar.
The management surrounds itself with a homely feel based on a horizontal structure of organization that helps with fast and effective communication while keeping a fun dynamic aura.
When it comes to future plans, the least to say would be they’ve got a full agenda. They will be collaborating with various companies – which names will remain for the time being undisclosed for business-competition reasons – in different fields such as catering, event planning, alcohol distribution, and marketing firms.
“We are opening membership clubs in as many universities in Lebanon as possible, for business students and those who are interested in events. Those clubs will have workshops and trainings, as well as internship offers in those companies,” Massoud said.
“As a team, we are all university students, so we understand the struggle of finding an available spot to apply to,” he added.
Massoud furthermore emphasized on how the students will be “pushed” to plan an end-of-year event while the management “overviews” the students’ work.
“And to add the cherry on top, students and loyal customers will be granted a loyalty card permitting them to access priority reservations and discounts at many pubs we have deals with as well as our own events,” he said.
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Annahar’s “Faces of Lebanon” is an occasional series that takes a look at the talented young people who work, study, live, and dream of a future in Lebanon. We encourage you nominating candidates and telling us their story. Send your nominations to series editor: SarahTrad94@gmail.co
