Rebuilding trust with expatriates and depositors

According to stakeholders in the renewable energy (RE) field, Lebanon’s banking sector is largely and conspicuously still absent in meeting the current needs of RE finance. At the time when we were writing our energy special report, bank BEMO drummed for a new initiative that, in the widest sense, looked relevant under the fight against deforestation. We got curious and sat down with Riad Obegi, chairman and general manager of BEMO, to talk about the cedar tree initiative, CSR, forestation, and RE finance.  What is the purpose of the “back to our cedar roots” initiative that BEMO first announced in October?  Many Lebanese today agree on an idea, to which I personally do not agree, that Lebanon is broke, that there is no money, and that we therefore need to ask money from outside. This is not correct. Our first idea behind this initiative was based on the conviction that,