It’s not just creativity—it’s the Lebanese vibe: a spirit forged in adversity, expressed through authenticity, adaptability, and connection, and now re-emerging as one of the country’s most undervalued strategic assets. It’s the lived rhythm of a people who transform collapse into reinvention, and scarcity into innovation—again and again. These traits underpin a sector with the potential to drive recovery: Lebanon’s creative economy. Rooted in design, film, fashion, digital media, and cultural production, this ecosystem is a functional response to systemic breakdown that generates livelihoods, exports identity, and captures global audiences.
Internationally, these sectors are classified as Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs)—a rapidly growing segment that has consistently outperformed traditional sectors in times of disruption. Lebanon is well-positioned to harness this momentum, drawing on its creative human capital, entrepreneurial instinct, and extensive diaspora networks. As Managing Partner of SRM (Socially Responsible Management), a Lebanese social enterprise dedicated to bolstering the capacity of organizations through managerial support, institutional development, and operational optimization, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing firsthand how these Lebanese vibes translate into real-world impact. SRM’s work in Lebanon, the MENA region and Europe, has consistently demonstrated that the pillars of adaptability, connectivity, authenticity, synergy, and influence are operational principles that drive measurable change. However, to harness these pillars for economic recovery, there are critical steps stakeholders must take to bolster Lebanon’s creative economy.
Adaptive cultural resilience drives Lebanon’s creative economy
Before the 2019 collapse, Lebanon’s CCIs contributed an estimated $2.3 billion USD—nearly 5 percent of national GDP—surpassing agriculture and construction and employing approximately 75,000 people (4.5 percent of the workforce). The film industry alone recorded a 675 percent increase in production over a decade, while artisanal exports—ranging from jewelry and furniture to traditional crafts—were valued at nearly $500 million USD. In today’s contracted economy, achieving similar output would represent an even larger share of GDP, making CCIs one of the few scalable levers for equitable, post-crisis recovery.
But this transformation will not be driven by slogans or donor templates. It will be built, as it always has been, by filmmakers, designers, musicians, artisans, and tech-savvy storytellers who continue to create relevance under pressure. Yet this resilience operates within an ecosystem that actively undermines its own potential. From unreliable power and prohibitively expensive internet to fragmented governance and a lack of formal creative industry recognition, Lebanon’s environment is not built to support creators. Weak intellectual property protections and a playing field skewed by unregulated competition not only erode trust but also choke the space for genuine innovation. Across the region, countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia are institutionalizing creative ecosystems—with tax incentives, copyright enforcement, export hubs, and fully equipped production zones. Lebanon’s creators, by contrast, navigate without a map: no unified licensing, no CCI-specific incentives, and minimal IP protection. The result? Global-quality content built on local improvisation—but with no safety net, and little scalability.
Despite this, Lebanese creativity is remarkably generative. Startups have bypassed local banking collapse through fintech. Digital agencies have sustained content pipelines by partnering with global platforms like Netflix and Shahid. Marketing firms have delivered region-leading campaigns with minimal budgets—fusing global fluency with cultural nuance.
Resilience is one of Lebanon’s few scalable economic levers. But for it to translate into growth, it must be met with structure. In the short term, the Ministries of Culture, Economy and Trade, Information, Tourism, and Finance must jointly establish a clear policy framework for the creative economy. This includes licensing creative professionals, enforcing digital rights management, and offering targeted tax relief for cultural production and exports. Medium-term priorities should focus on building adaptive infrastructure—production hubs, content labs, and creative zones with reliable utilities and digital access. Long-term competitiveness depends on a national strategy that recognizes cultural and creative industries as an essential pillar of economic recovery, backed by legal protection, fiscal incentives, and export integration.
Lebanon’s diaspora network: an economic and creative lifeline
For generations, Lebanese migration has established a global network of professionals and entrepreneurs whose connections, funding, and market access continue to prop up the creative sector back home. But let’s not sugarcoat it. This strength faces real, structural headwinds. Domestic instability and limited opportunities have driven talent out, while infrastructure gaps, high operational costs, and fragmented export pathways turn even the most promising ideas into uphill battles. While diaspora networks offer vital external support, Lebanon has yet to build the frameworks needed to turn these connections into a scalable, sustainable advantage.
And yet, digital agencies and content producers are already tapping into diaspora partnerships to deliver high-quality marketing campaigns, content, and multimedia solutions for international clients. Lebanon needs a phased, intentional strategy to harness this comparative advantage —one led by private sector actors from both Lebanon and the diaspora: start by launching diaspora-led co-production funds and virtual creative hubs in the short term. Build on that with government-backed export partnerships in the medium term. And invest in digital infrastructure that makes scalable, efficient export models a reality in the long term.
Differentiation as survival
Lebanese producers have long mastered the art of embedding creativity into commerce, using storytelling, design, and cultural cues to elevate products beyond their functional value. But the sector’s potential is stifled by distribution bottlenecks and fragmented market access that leave even the most compelling brands struggling to reach their audience. Investment in scalable content production is inconsistent, and support structures for emerging brands are inconsistent at best. In the short term, invest in immersive storytelling and brand-led content marketing that draws consumers into the Lebanese narrative. Lebanese entrepreneurs, talented creative professionals, and CCI firms—building on the initiative-driven spirit that defines the Lebanese vibe—should lead this charge. In the medium term, they should collaborate to develop regional distribution hubs and export accelerators that give brands the logistical muscle they need. In the long term, a cooperation-focused government vision should elevate and amplify these private sector initiatives—deepen cross-border partnerships and expand regional networks to cement Lebanon’s creative products as premium offerings on the global stage.
Inclusive creative clusters and collaboration
Lebanon’s creative clusters have emerged organically, often without government design or regulatory frameworks. From artisans perfecting their craft in workshops in Bourj Hammoud, Tripoli, or Saida, to digital media startups experimenting in converted studios across Beirut, these ecosystems reflect grassroots energy—not industrial policy. However, startups and artisans often struggle to access financing, while fragmented markets and inequitable support systems hold back scale. Uneven quality controls erode competitiveness in high-value markets.
To unlock the economic potential of these clusters, Lebanon must shift from recognition to support. In the short term, this means formalizing these clusters through legal frameworks, quality assurance systems, and intellectual property protections. In the medium term, shared production facilities and mentorship platforms can give creators room to grow. And in the long term, targeted public policy—designed to stimulate cross-sector collaboration and anchored in regional competitiveness—can position Lebanon as a true hub of creative commerce in the Arab world.
Narrative power in creative economy
The country’s narrative strength is recognizable: a richly layered, cosmopolitan identity that draws on heritage to generate meaning, relevance and global appeal. Cultural policies, too often ad hoc and reactive, fail to provide the infrastructure needed to transform diversity into shared purpose. Too much of Lebanon’s global cultural output—particularly in cinema—still remains tethered to stories of war, trauma, and sectarian fracture. The opportunity now is to reposition Lebanon not merely as a country that has endured, but as a country that enables: a hub of creative energy, emotional fluency, and cultural design.
The role of national institutions is not to dictate this narrative, but to protect the creative space where it emerges—to convene, enable, and elevate. In the short term, this means supporting creators to define and tell authentic stories that resonate globally. In the medium term, it requires building the digital infrastructure, creative clusters, and export pipelines to deliver Lebanon’s creative voice to the world. And in the long term, it demands a national narrative framework—one that unites Lebanon’s diverse identities into a cohesive story.
The Lebanese vibe as strategy, not sentiment
From my position as Managing Partner of SRM, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside some of Lebanon’s most visionary creators. Through our support to NGOs, community-based organizations, and businesses across the arts, cinema, cultural heritage, ecotourism, design, film production, digital communication, and web development, I’ve seen closely how the Lebanese creative pulse converts into global relevance and measurable impact. SRM’s work has consistently shown that the five core traits of Lebanon’s creative economy—Resilient (Adaptability), Globally-Rooted (Connectivity), Authentic (Cultural Identity), Synergistic (Collaboration), and Influential (Narrative Power)—can be levers of economic transformation when embedded into policy frameworks and operational strategies.
Three urgent economic priorities that are observable from our work are the following:
- Retain and Recirculate Creative Talent: Lebanon must reverse its creative brain drain by deploying four strategic levers: establish Creative Tax Haven Zones to ease operational costs, launch Diaspora Co-Investment Funds to attract global Lebanese capital, implement Sectoral Fellowship and Buyback Programs to incentivize return, and build Creative Clusters with Infrastructure Subsidies to anchor talent in key sectors like film, design, fashion, and digital media. We need to make staying in Lebanon—or returning from abroad—not just a sentimental choice, but a viable economic one. In doing so, we could retain or repatriate up to 20,000 creative professionals, with a potential GDP impact of over $500 million annually.
- Export the Lebanese Vibe as a Cultural Intelligence Service: Beyond products and content, Lebanese creators offer something rare: the ability to translate culture into emotional intelligence. Our creative professionals can deliver adaptive, culturally attuned services to global markets—particularly across the Gulf, Francophone Africa, and diaspora hubs. With targeted policy recognition, IP protection, and export pipeline development, Lebanon could establish a $750 million annual industry rooted in narrative power and cultural fluency.
- Build a Cross-Sector Production Ecosystem: Lebanon has the raw ingredients to become a destination for global film and media production—geography, climate, competitive costs, and an emotionally rich creative workforce. But without equipping country-wide support sectors—construction, hospitality, logistics, crafts, fashion—with the standards and capabilities required by international production houses, this potential will remain theoretical. Through targeted incentives, creative clusters, and bundled service offerings, Lebanon could unlock $2 billion in cumulative inbound production over the next decade.
The Lebanese vibe is not a nostalgic brand—it’s a strategic national export. It encapsulates emotion, depth, adaptability, and elegance—the kind of intangible capital that can’t be replicated by industrial scale or petro-dollars. It is an ultimate comparative advantage: a high-value, low-capital asset rooted in people, not pipelines. In an era where differentiation, cultural relevance, and emotional resonance define global competitiveness, Lebanon’s creative economy stands uniquely positioned to deliver what others cannot. But for it to scale, we must shift from improvisation to intentionality—from isolated brilliance to coordinated infrastructure. We must export not just culture, but meaning—packaged with purpose, backed by policy, and aligned with national development. The cultural and creative economy is no longer Lebanon’s hidden asset—it is its loudest signal, and its most promising path forward.
Hamad Elias is a Managing Partner at Socially Responsible Management
