1007 Christine Assouad: The Power to Say Yes

The 5P Framework, Why Women Should Dream Bigger, and Why Womens’ Non-Linear Lives Are the Superpower

The best entrepreneurs know how to face the fear and do it anyway.

So, a month before Christine Assouad signed the Dunkin’ franchise for Lebanon, she went skydiving over the North Pole. After that, she says, opening a few stores felt like a piece of cake. Her brain had learned the only lesson that matters about fear: you did the crazy thing and you survived, so it can stop sounding the alarm every time business asks you to do something new.

Christine is a serial entrepreneur with 28 years in food and beverage, including the Dunkin’ franchise for Lebanon, now 50 stores, and the Lebanese restaurant brand Semsom. She is a Shark on Shark Tank Lebanon, the only woman among five, where she invests through her fund, the Tribe Fund. She’s also the founder of the Empowering Tribe, a community that has worked with more than 5,000 women; and author of The Power to Say Yes, written as a letter to her two daughters. She holds degrees from AUB, McGill, ESA and Harvard Business School, was the first Middle Eastern person to reach the North Pole, has 389 skydives, is a private pilot, and is on her way to 100 countries. Today she shares what fear taught her, what 500 one-to-one sessions with women entrepreneurs taught her, and how she decides to invest in the 45 minutes a Shark gets.

How does she do it all? One principle: a purpose bigger than yourself. For Dunkin’ it is spreading happiness; donuts and coffee are just the tools. For the Empowering Tribe it is pushing women to thrive. For the Tribe Fund it is watching someone else’s dream get fuel. Christine’s two findings from 500 sessions with women founders: first, know what you want out of your life, not just your business; second, accept that a woman’s journey is not a straight line, through pregnancy, young kids, teenagers and menopause, and treat that as the superpower it is. She pleads guilty to her own early years of wearing black and acting strict because she thought that was how business was done, and explains why, in an AI world where everyone can buy the analysis for $20 a month, empathy, connection and adapting to change are what is left to compete on.

We talk about the pattern she sees from the Shark’s chair, women pitching lifestyle businesses with modest valuations while men pitch big problems with outrageous ones, and her advice to dream bigger. We get into the 5P framework she runs in her head while a founder is still talking: person, problem, potential, performance, perspective. And we get into money: why women will write a philanthropy check but not an investment check, why the trillions transferring to women will be handed to someone else to manage unless women start talking about investing, and why a failed investment you learned from is not a failure. Plus, the question she gets most about her book, why it is The Power to Say Yes and not the power to say no.

More about Christine Assouad at catalystofgrowth.com

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More about Christine at Catalyst of Growth

Christine Assouad is a serial entrepreneur with 28 years of experience building food and beverage businesses, including Dunkin’ Lebanon, Semsom, and more. She is also a strategy advisor, board member, and mentor, supporting businesses across MENA and Europe. Through her book, The Power to Say Yes, HER leadership programs, and the Tribe Fund, she has impacted thousands of female leaders (5,000 and counting) and invested in Lebanese entrepreneurs as a Shark on Shark Tank Lebanon. She holds degrees from AUB, McGill, ESA and Harvard Business School, and has received multiple business awards. Beyond work, she is a former skydiver, private pilot, rally participant, and the first Middle Eastern person to reach the North Pole. She is currently on her way to visiting 100 countries and, most importantly, is the proud mother of two daughters. She hosts the new podcast Notes From the Top, interviewing Sharks from around the world.

Get Christine’s book, The Power to Say Yes

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