The Lebanese investment landscape of the past few years has come to resemble the country’s terrain; when first considered it is a seemingly attractive environment like that of the Mediterranean coastline, but as one travels further inland it suddenly becomes hilly and cumbersome. Tainted by a political balance that rests on a knife’s edge, an outdated corporate law and the looming specter of corruption — Lebanon is the 102nd least corrupt nation according to Transparency International — the country has failed to foster the entrepreneurial spirit embodied in so many of its diaspora nationals the world over. Moreover, throughout the years of conflict in Lebanon, local banks have been reluctant to go out on a limb and finance new and enterprising ideas. Rather, they have been focusing on centralized, conservative banking practices and only lending to well-established clients who hold large amounts of collateral. Enter the global financial crisis and
