Getting stepped

P icture this. You start a business from scratch, invest a lot of capital, make a name for yourself and endure innumerable challenges, difficulties and streaks of bad luck. Then,just when you find yourself in the comfortable position of being the only local manufacturer of a certain product, the market slips out from under you. That is a story Alexi Habib understands. In 1968, his company Lefa Liban started manufacturing leatherboard, which is used in the manufacture of shoe heels and inserts. Since that time, the firm has been dealt one blow after another. A machine, imported from abroad at a cost of DMS00,000 was looted on arrival at Beirut port. Several times during the war, production stopped altogether. But somehow the company has found a way over its hurdles – until now. Lefa Liban’s revenues have dropped nearly 23%, from about $1 million in 1995 down to $772,000 in