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From resilience to inaction
Lebanon’s history has not been short of challenges. The modern Lebanese state is less than a century old, yet it has endured unique experiences unknown to other nations over a much longer history — a...
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No direction home
An end to the Syrian civil war does not seem likely in 2015, meaning that Lebanon will continue to host over 1 million refugees even as the government tries to limit the flow of new arrivals. Executive...
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The slump begins to hurt
Lebanon’s real estate developers are singing a different tune these days. Gone is the talk that residential property prices will never go down as three years of a slump are taking their toll. “We’re...
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Empty towers
Seven years ago if you went out at night and looked at some of the newer residential buildings completed in Beirut, you would notice that many of the flats were dark. At that time, the explanation was...
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A work in progress
Bilal Hamad, president of the Beirut Municipality, talks with Executive about parks, sidewalk renovations, the city budget and the increasing number of revenue-generating towers within the city limits....
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Building for demand
With the Lebanese real estate market remaining stagnant again in 2014, Executive sat down with Jihad Ibrahim, general manager of Jamil Ibrahim Establishment, to discuss ways to better regulate the...
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Impending calamity
After over a decade of debate — and severe hiccups in 2014 — a law annulling the “old rent” system, whereby tenants who signed leases before 1992 never faced rent increases, gained parliamentary...
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Industry matters
Top Asian industrial producers like China, South Korea and Thailand consistently rack up over 30 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) from the value added by their manufacturing industries....
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Muddling through
For Lebanon’s manufacturers, 2014 was a difficult year. The promising gains the sector had made in the preceding year were diminished as the many oft-cited impediments — those of political and security...
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Bright ideas
According to a recent World Bank study on global competitiveness published in 2012, Lebanon ranks very poorly on its capacity for innovation and the quality of its research institutions, in addition to...
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Industrial revolution 2.0
Technological leaps are almost always accompanied by a loss of jobs. Tailors, blacksmiths and letter carriers are all either obsolete or in steep decline thanks to advances over the past several...
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Industrialization in a global economy
Important partners of Lebanon, such as the European Union and the United Nations, have long advocated sustainable expansion of industrial capacity as a core requirement for Lebanon’s economic...
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Promising outlook
Lebanon’s entrepreneurial landscape has been maturing in recent years, as witnessed by the emergence of highly motivated youth, the growth of the venture capital industry, and the creation of...
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The technologies of tomorrow
Innovative Lebanese manufacturers are harnessing the technologies of tomorrow in their factories today. Executive went to Technica for an inside peek at how the company employs robotic technology in...
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Positive steps
Entrepreneurs have had a good year in 2014. With the eTobb team being admitted to Mountain View’s 500 Startups, considered to be one of the top accelerators globally, and with one of the cofounders of...
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In comes the money
As of this year, startups in Lebanon will no longer have to complain over a lack of investors willing to give them cash in exchange for equity stakes. There are several new venture capital (VC) funds...
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Extracting transparency
In October 2014, Lebanon hosted its first ever Petroleum Day. Much of the event’s focus was on civil society’s role in monitoring the country’s natural resources. One of the primary tools to aid this...
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Getting hands on
Just as Lebanon’s startup ecosystem is growing, so is the diversity of its funding sources. Abdallah and Ghaith Yafi are the brother duo behind Y Venture Partners (YVP), a new, early stage investment...
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Sowing seeds
Much is written and more is discussed about the impact of Syrian refugees on the Lebanese labor market. Plenty of analyses and proposals are in the air. This is as commendable as it is understandable:...
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Going digital
Digital technology is reshaping wealth management around the globe, according to a Strategy& survey that appeared in our Global Wealth Management Outlook 2014–2015. Interestingly, however, wealth...
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