E: The Malia Group reached a milestone with 50 years of industrial production of cosmetics. Where were the challenges you encountered in building an enterprise in the Lebanese environment? Within 50 years, we have undergone three different ages as a group: from 1950 until 1975, from 1975 until 1990, from 1990 until 2004. Each phase had a different mission. The most difficult period was between 1975 and 1990, the 15 years of war. Despite that, it was the most successful as we turned a negative situation positive and the mission of surviving during the war into a mission of not only enduring but diversifying our business and investing. From 1972 until 1985, we moved from two companies in one sector, health and beauty, to what is today a multi-sector business of 12 companies. E: Was this then the decisive period in the evolution of the enterprise? It was high risk
