Reading Time: 3 minutes Constitutions are serious stuff. The one that I grew up under is known as the Grundgesetz—the fundamental law of Germany. In its first line, this constitution declares that the dignity of the human being is inviolable and that the state has to honor and protect it. Back at the time of this constitution’s drafting 70…
Keep the spirit of this revolution
Lessons from the American entrepreneurship ecosystem
Reading Time: 3 minutes Fostering a supportive culture is key for entrepreneurship. The government needs to create policies that enable entrepreneurship, such as tax incentives and intellectual property rights. Universities in Lebanon need to include real-world, hands-on engagement within entrepreneurship programs. With the current hardships and challenges Lebanon is encountering, the government needs to look to new ways to…
Lebanese entrepreneurship requires a robust regulatory framework
Reading Time: 3 minutes Regulation is key for the success of entrepreneurship initiatives. Tax breaks, a regulatory sandbox, and access to finance will aid investment in small and early stage startups in Lebanon. The Banking Control Commission of Lebanon could play a pivotal role in kick-starting the fintech sector through a regulatory sandbox. The High-Level Lebanon-UK Tech Forum, held…
New programs offer business, financial help to entrepreneurs
Reading Time: 9 minutes New accelerator, incubator, and grant programs for startups demonstrate a nichificiation of the ecosystem. Many entrepreneurs rely on these programs for financial support and in-kind services, such as office space and mentorship, to develop their young businesses. The ecosystem still has gaps that will need to be addressed to develop further. Since 2013, and the…
Lebanon needs fintech regulation to keep up with regional growth
Reading Time: 6 minutes Lacking regulation or access to licensing, fintech in Lebanon proves challenging. While there are fintech-adjacent paths entrepreneurs can pursue, these require partnering with licensed entities, such as banks and financial institutions, which are limited in the number of partnerships they can undertake. Other countries in the region have opened up regulation and created regulatory testing…
Houmal Technology Park
Reading Time: 5 minutes Houmal Technology Park (HTP) can be an example of tech manufacture and fruitful entrepreneurialism. Export orientation of tech companies can be realized independently from the Lebanese entrepreneurship ecosystem that relies on Circular 331. First-mover disadvantages of pioneering tech companies need to be compensated by state and municipal partners for creation of productive clusters. Risks pertaining…
Technology and agriculture meet in Agrytech
Reading Time: 8 minutes There is a need for innovation and R&D in the agro-industry sector in Lebanon and the region. Agrytech, a program by Berytech focusing on innovations in agriculture, was created to address this need. It has four major pillars including an accelerator program and an agri-food innovation cluster. Agrytech was promoted to university students and graduates…
Entrepreneurship in times of systemic change
Reading Time: 9 minutes October 2019 events have hallmarks of systemic shocks. Risks are unfathomable and early economic impact evaluations are necessarily inadequate. The future may depend on extraordinary courage, discipline, and daring visions. Entrepreneurship has the potential to be a key ingredient in building national prosperity. These are times when a discussion of entrepreneurship—Executive’s traditional focus in the…
Quotes
Reading Time: 6 minutes What are the next steps for Lebanon? Between now and year’s end, what do you propose stakeholders in your field should be doing? “Lebanon should, at long last, find its bearings politically, financially, and economically. A credible and technocratic government should be installed to restore confidence and kickstart the institutional process. The country’s finances should be…
Reimagining an alternative Lebanon
Reading Time: 3 minutes The unthinkable has finally happened. A stubborn sectarian system, undergirded by a peculiar postwar political economy, and sustained by institutional and disciplinary practices geared toward reproducing sectarian modes of identification and mobilization, has finally given way. This is a story that can be traced back to the mid-19th century, when the dislocations created by overlapping…
A perspective on the solutions offered in last-ditch efforts of old government
Reading Time: 8 minutes The government’s economic rescue plan has been rendered theoretical. The political context of its presentation reveals real dimension of governance failings in the past two years. Analysis of the plan’s composition shows it to be disparate and desperate. Economic reality will require huge efforts beyond the scope of the last plan. What to do with…
Uprising
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Lebanon’s uprising has potential ripple-on effects
Reading Time: 8 minutes As the aftermath of the Arab Spring saw the Levant descend into another iteration of political posturing and advantage seeking of what in earlier times was often derogatorily called Levantine behavior, Iraqi-Lebanese journalist Husain Abdul-Husain shared his dismay. In a story published five years ago, he drew as his conclusion from a decade of Iraqi,…
Time to rise above
Reading Time: 2 minutes Executive has been shouting over and over again for change in this country, calling the bluffs of successive governments in our more than 20 years of coverage. At times, it seemed as though we were screaming into the void. Ignored by the policy-makers, targeted by threats and lawsuits, and resigned to the lack of reaction…
Le monde du plus fort ou du plus fou
Reading Time: 2 minutes French anthropologist Marc Augé coined the phrase “non-lieu” (non-place) in the mid-1990s to describe places where considerations of history and identity were erased—think shopping malls or airports. Listening to him speak in Lebanon earlier in September got me thinking, Lebanon is the antithesis of a non-lieu. Every space in Lebanon is linked to our history…