The Chinese may be calling it the Year of the Ox but in the Middle East — not to mention everywhere in the developed world — it will be the Year of the Real Man, a period in which the new austerity will have no time for fads. Straight talking, in-it-for-the-long-haul, is in; short term, fast buck is well and truly out.
We are already seeing the wheat being threshed from the chaff; the men separated from the boys. Call it what you will. Quite simply, those who did not plan for the future, who did not factor-in a potential crisis, are paying the price. Those who did and who can endure, who can stick by their staff, their team and their suppliers will strengthen their market share when the economic sun will shine again. The market will respect their resilience in the buffeting winds of the global meltdown.
There have been the inevitable casualties. The rumor mill has been buzzing with speculation as to the number of job losses in the Gulf, especially among the legions of Lebanese expats. There has been an element of “we told you so” and “it wasn’t going to last forever.” But envy aside, what those Lebanese who didn’t indulge the Gulf’s fortunes are failing to grasp is that the experience gained by these people — waiters to CEOs — can be deployed to excellent effect both at home and abroad.
The Lebanese Central Bank should be applauded for issuing a circular to the local banks urging them to make funds available, should returning businessmen wish to plow the experienced gained in the Gulf back into the local economy.
Meanwhile, as the GCC licks its wounds and consolidates, it is surely the time for those pioneering Lebanese, as they have done for over a century, to seek out new opportunities in new, mouth-watering markets such as Libya, Iraq, Sudan and Algeria. These are markets rich in potential and high in risk. In other words: perfect for the hardworking Lebanese who from Brazil to Mali to Jeddah to Dubai have cornered the market in going where others will not. The Gulf will recover and it will prosper but it cannot expect the Lebanese entrepreneur to sit still.
Real men turn loss into investment and disaster into opportunity.
