“You can’t be in two places at once,” Talal Choucair said, explaining the need for the ‘remote access virtual private network (VPN)’ he and his partner, Guillaume Baron, created when they saw the market opportunity for this kind of technology. “The tools we were using were either too complex or they didn’t fulfill our requirements, so we designed a prototype based on what we wanted to use ourselves.” After two years of aggressive development, Choucair and Baron devised a product that not only satisfies a personal, professional, and market need, but also indeed allows the user to virtually be in two places at once.

March 2008 saw the commercial launch of WallCooler (“it literally cools firewalls,” Choucair pointed out), and, over the past six months, the unique remote access-VPN solution has attracted tens of thousands of users and has a major presence in over 110 countries. “Our revenue is doubling every month,” Choucair revealed, speaking to WallCooler’s immediate success. “In terms of customers, the [MENA] region is one of our biggest growing regions … And we just recently discovered that someone has written an article about us on Wikipedia,” he continued, surprised that his product is now documented in the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet.

Seeing opportunity

Traditional VPN technology involves a very expensive server and equally expensive software and, after a complicated installation process requiring an IT professional, it allows the customer to access the files on one computer from a separate computer at a different location. “All of this together makes it a little out of reach for a lot of businesses,” Choucair explained. “The idea was that remote access shouldn’t only be the playground of big companies with lots of money and IT resources,” so he and Baron took the idea, developed their own unique version of the technology, simplified it for users (WallCooler’s target demographic is individuals and small businesses), maximized its features and capabilities, and significantly reduced the cost. “We took a very complex remote access system only available to big companies for a lot of money and IT resources, and we brought it to small businesses at a very cost-effective price, with no hardware. It’s a simple software — like Skype or MSN — that, once installed, can be up and running in minutes,” he summarized.

“With WallCooler you have access to your computer, direct access to all the files that are available on your computer, and you also have access to your entire office network. You can be sitting at your home computer or on your laptop at Starbucks, and connect to the office databases, print on your office printer, or send a fax if you have a network fax at the office,” Choucair detailed. He went on to outline the market for remote access-VPN technology, which has grown from $80 million in 2005 to $8 billion in 2008, as “the mentality of society is changing in terms of work culture; we want more flexibility and less constraints, and increasingly we are realizing the need for these solutions.”

Choucair cited his favorite example: “Two full-time working parents have a child that is ill and needs to stay home from school. Now the parents argue about who needs to be at work for their 10 a.m. meeting, or go to the office to finish their presentation… In this case, a remote access solution is crucial for employee and employer. With WallCooler, the employee can access everything he or she needs right from the home computer. He or she can fulfill social requirements or constraints without sacrificing work.”

WallCooler comes in three easy-to-install, ready-to-use versions: Wallcooler Standard, the free remote access service; WallCooler Pro, the full-featured remote access and VPN solution that allows multiple locations, but is limited to just one login; and WallCooler Enterprise, which is essentially the same service offered with WallCooler Pro, but ideal for small businesses because it allows up to fifty users. It is available for download on the company’s website, where fully animated diagrams and instructions walk the customer through the installation step-by-step. Creating a username and password is the only part of the process that really requires any active thought.

“We are about 80-85% cheaper than other existing VPN solutions,” Choucair claimed, hastening to add, “but that’s not the main point. What is important to us is what users want, which is quality and simplicity.”

Mary came to work in Lebanon in July. She had held a decent job in her hometown of Manila, Philippines, making $86 a month as a quality controller at a clothing factory. Earlier this year, she met an Egyptian businessman who told her she could earn $400 a month working as a maid in Lebanon. She thought it was a good opportunity to give her five children a better life.

Mary left the children with her mother. Upon landing at Rafiq Hariri International Airport, she says she was issued a tourist visa, and was met by her new employer, her ‘Madam’. The Madam told Mary her salary would be far less than expected: $200 per month. From thereon, Mary’s situation only deteriorated.

“My mother had a heart attack on July 23, and died. Now there is no one to take care of my babies,” Mary said. She tried to do the housework, but could not stop crying. She wanted to go home. Her employer was unsympathetic.

“My Madam said that if I don’t stop crying, she will throw me out the window, and burn my things,” Mary said. “Madam said she wanted me to die, and my children to die and go to hell.”

Mary said her employer beat her and used a fork to scratch deep grooves into her underarms, leaving scabs visible two weeks later. Mary was terrified and heartbroken, so she ran away. In August she found refuge at a shelter for run-away migrant domestic workers north of Beirut. Mary was waiting to speak with a lawyer to get her passport back from her employer and figure out how she was going to get home.

Although a victim of human trafficking, Mary was lucky to be in the shelter. Many of her fellow run-away maids end up in the General Security’s jails, waiting for their cases to be heard.

To be fair, this is not how most Lebanese treat their migrant domestic workers. But with few regulations, and a country already swamped with problems, incidents like Mary’s are not uncommon. Advocates for workers say the problem is that the 200,000 migrant domestic workers from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Ethiopia and other countries have little legal recourse against abusive employers.

Invisible under the law

“The labor law does not apply to domestic workers,” said Martin McDermott, a priest who has worked with Lebanon’s migrant domestic worker population for 15 years.

The problem has come to the attention of Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, who in September issued a fatwa criticizing the treatment of maids in Lebanon, and calling for better protection of the workers and legal reform.

According to McDermott, the International Labor Organization and NGOs like Caritas Migrant Center and Human Rights Watch, the worst situations migrant domestic workers find themselves in are physically or sexually abusive. Other bad cases include employers who do not give their maids food, lock them in the house or force them to sleep outside.

These kinds of abuses can lead to suicide or death in an attempt to escape, according to Nadim Houry, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. He said that in less than two years, 40 maids committed suicide and 24 more died in falls from balconies.

“Many domestic workers are literally being driven to jump from balconies to escape their forced confinement,” Houry said. “All those involved […] need to ask themselves what is driving these women to kill themselves or risk their lives trying to escape from high buildings.”

According to Houry, much of the abuse suffered by maids in Lebanon is not that dramatic. Most practices are normalized and accepted in Lebanon, even though they are prohibited by either human rights conventions that Lebanon is a party to, or by Lebanese law.

In a 2005 study of 500 migrant domestic workers in Lebanon by Dr. Ray Jureidini at the American University of Cairo, 56% of maids reported working more than 12 hours per day, 34% said they did not have a day off and 31% said they were not allowed to leave their houses. Anecdotal evidence suggests  employers often withhold payment in order to insure maids will not run away.

This spring, Human Rights Watch started “Put Yourself in Her Shoes,” an advertising campaign pointing out the day-to-day abuses that maids endure, hoping to change Lebanese employers’ treatment of their maids.

Employers and employment agencies also confiscate maids’ passports to prevent them from fleeing: only 1% of live-in maids in Jureidini’s study reported possessing their own passports. Rania Hokayem, project manager at the Caritas Migrant Center, said that Lebanese confiscate their maids’ passports to protect themselves, because the law does not.

“For them, it’s a guarantee,” she said. “The employers consider that they invested a lot of money to bring a person to Lebanon to work for them, and in case she runs away from the house, this would be a loss. So they consider that keeping the passport in their hands will not give the chance for the worker to think about running away.”

Hokayem said the Lebanese labor code does not cover domestic help, leaving the employer largely responsible for the $2,000 it costs to bring a maid to Lebanon and making the maids vulnerable to abuse by the employer and the employment agency. Moreover, the laws on the books to protect workers are rarely enforced. The maids’ legal status in the country is defined by the contract they sign with the employer, which is based on the kafalah (sponsorship) system.

Kafalah ties a maid’s legal residency in Lebanon to her employer, who then controls her freedom of movement, work hours, days off and pay. The system is also inflexible: if employers do not like a maid, they are basically stuck with her, possibly leading to situations of conflict and abuse. McDermott said that many employment agencies also ‘bait and switch’, forcing maids to sign a different contract than what they agreed to in their home country.

“The employment agency will supply their own contract, often it’s in Arabic, she doesn’t know what she’s signing anyway and she doesn’t get a copy,” he said. “These girls are simple, they’re not used to dealing with sharks and legal ways. So they can be taken advantage of.”

The contracts do not specify work hours or conditions. The common wage is $125 to $200 per month. In interviews, workers routinely say they were promised more by their employment agency before they arrive in the country.

In 2005, Lebanon’s then-minister of labor, Trad Hamade formed a committee to look at ways to bring migrant domestic workers under the labor code, with the committee’s first objective to create a unified, standardized and legally binding contract for maids and employers.

The contract would have set out rules for on-time payment of wages, working conditions and work hours. The draft was finished and awaited approval from the minister. But before the Hamadeh could approve the contract, he resigned along with the rest of the Amal and Hizbullah ministers in November 2006. During Lebanon’s 18 months of political deadlock, other officials in the ministry asked the committee to submit a new draft. Hokayem said it was a big setback for the contract.

“When we finally reached the end, we had to go back to beginning, and discuss all the issues we had already discussed during the previous year,” Hokayem said.

The new minister of labor, Mohammad Fneish, declined to comment for this article. Hokayem is optimistic that he’ll take up the issue. But others are less hopeful. They point out that those who employ maids are often wealthy and politically connected: and they would stand to lose if the maids gain.

In malls around town, couples pushing baby strollers are a common sight. However, for many plagued by infertility, children are a luxury they can’t afford.

According to Dr Joseph Aboud, an oncological and gynecological surgeon, Lebanon’s infertility rate stands at 15%. “This percentage can be further broken down, whereby 85% of cases can be solved with medical treatment while the remaining couples will often require IVF surgeries,” he added. The specialist recommends, however, that the right approach to solving infertility problems should be carefully balanced and progressive in terms of treatment procedure.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures have been done in Lebanon since 1989. IVF involves the female eggs being fertilized by sperm outside the woman’s womb and is used as treatment for infertility when all other methods of assisted reproductive technology fail. The process is based on hormonally controlling the ovulation process and removing the ova (egg) from the woman’s ovaries before allowing sperm to fertilize. The fertilized egg is then transferred to the patient’s uterus.

Currently there are about 14 IVF centers in Lebanon, where each assisted reproduction procedure costs about $2,500, according to Dr Aboud. who underlined that in the United States such a procedure can cost up to $25,000. The specialist estimates that about 25% of patients undergoing IVF will be able to conceive after the first trial, while others will frequently require one to five additional procedures.

One bank has identified the need for reproductive assistance and the inherent costs that are linked to it as an opportunity. First National Bank (FNB) started marketing fertility loans of late in all its branches. Maher Mezher, head of FNB’s marketing department, explained that he became familiar with infertility problems during the course of a study he led at Université Saint Joseph (USJ), where he teaches. “While conducting the study, we discovered that about 18% of newly married people were unable or faced difficulty conceiving. The Fertility Association of Lebanon estimates this rate to about 15%. If applied to the general Lebanese population, this figure would translate into 10,000 couples suffering from infertility,” he pointed out. The study also attributed infertility to couples getting married later, change in lifestyles as well as acute stress, causing loss of sperm motility and other infertility problems.

What’s covered

The FNB fertility loan is divided into four main lines. The first line includes fertility treatments such as diets, injections, vitamins, medication and surgeries. The second type of procedure financed by FNB is stem cell collection and conservation. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells act as a repair system for the body thanks to their ability to replenish specialized cells, as well as maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin or intestinal tissues. Medical researchers believe that stem cell therapy has the potential to dramatically change the treatment of human disease as stem cells can now be grown and transformed into specialized cells with consistent characteristics. A number of adult stem cell therapies already exist on the market, the more popular ones being associated with bone marrow transplants and to treat certain types of cancers such as leukemia. “These cells are collected from the child’s umbilical cord during delivery and refrigerated at a temperature of -169 degrees, then sent to stem cell banks located in England, Germany, or the United States. These stems, when available in sufficient number, can be used to treat heart disease, Alzheimer, paralysis or any injuries that are caused during an accident,” Mezher explained.

The importance of stem cell treatment has promoted FNB’s decision to finance such vital procedures and make it available to the public. “Besides fertility treatments and stem cell conservation, FNB also finances delivery expenses,” Mezher said. The manager explained that although much of the population may enjoy social security or medical coverage, such insurances may not fully cover procedures in relation to delivery, allowing the bank to step in and fill the gap.

The fertility loan is also granted to couples who can have a child without medical assistance but are in need of financing their baby’s accessories — strollers, furniture for the baby room, car seat, clothes or any other item required by a newborn.

Anyone with a salary of $600 dollars or more can apply for the loan while self employed individuals such as doctors and merchants should boast a salary exceeding $1,500. The loan will also finance the $2,800 or so needed for stem cell preservation. “Nonetheless, loan amounts should not exceed one third of the client’s salary and ought to be reimbursed over a maximum period of three years,” Mezher said.

Top tier loans

FNB applies an interest of 5% on the fertility loan which, according to Mezher, is quite affordable when compared to other loans that are otherwise backed by tangible assets. The amount limit of the loan is $7,000, however, clients with a salary of over $2,000 can obtain a loan of $10,000. On average, each IVF procedure costs about $2,500 and historical data has shown that more than one procedure is required. “We only cover IVF treatments done in Lebanon as we settle doctors’ fees directly,” Mezher added, noting that the loan is not available to non-residents.

The manager underlined the confidentiality involved in the process of obtaining a fertility loan. “Loan applications are distributed to doctors who help their patients fill them out. They are then processed by one department only at the bank and overseen by two FNB employees. I was, however, really surprised by the number of forms which were filled out directly by clients at the various branches and especially in rural southern and northern areas,” said the manager. Lebanese seem to have overcome the cultural taboo traditionally linked with infertility problems. Dr Aboud reckoned that he has seen some patients resort to selling their property, whether apartments or land, to finance assisted reproductive treatments.

An indicator of couples’ desire for children is the FNB’s call center, which went from receiving 26 calls to up to 256 calls per day after the launch of the fertility loan. “We expect to grant as many as 500 to 1,000 loans within a year and a half,” Mezher said.

FNB has relied on a powerful marketing campaign to promote its new loan product. About 1,300 billboards displaying the fertility loan ad were put up around Lebanon while a press conference was organized at the Phoenicia hotel for the public launch of the loan. An ad campaign including TV, newspapers and magazines was also organized. Finally an SMS campaign was initiated a few weeks earlier, with some 100,000 messages sent to mobile phones around the country.

According to Mezher, “The bank is actually creating awareness. We have abandoned classical marketing campaigns that tout the merits of our institution and replaced them with an effective approach underlined by new products from which our clients ultimately benefit”

As profitable a product as the new fertility loans may be, their impact certainly has an important social dimension. In Mezher’s words, “We are positioning ourselves as a daring bank with a keen interest in humanitarian issues.”

The days that one would see groups of Syrian workers sitting on every street corner, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes while waiting for a job, are long gone by. Since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005, Syrians have generally proven more reluctant to try their luck across the border, as many Lebanese blame Syria for the string of political killings that shook the country in recent years. It is estimated that following the murder of “Mr. Lebanon,” some 30 Syrians were killed in random attacks.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s construction and real estate market is booming across the board. Nearly everywhere in Beirut, buildings are bought up, emptied and demolished to make way for yet another new apartment block. With less Syrian workers around while demand is soaring, labor cost has witnessed a significant increase in recent years.

According to a Lebanese contractor from eastern Beirut, who preferred not to be named, the salary of a Syrian laborer has risen by an average of some 33%. “Three years ago an unqualified worker was about LP15,000 ($10) a day,” he said. “Today he charges about LP20,000 ($13). A qualified worker, such as a carpenter, electrician or painter, costs some LP45,000 ($30) a day, up from $20 to $25 a day.”

According to him, there are several reasons for the price hike. “It’s more expensive for Syrians to take the bus to Lebanon and food has become more expensive, so it is only normal that they demand a wage increase,” he said, adding that, ”since March 14 there are simply less Syrians around. A few years ago, you could pick up a worker from the street even for $8, as many were desperate just to eat. Now, you are lucky to find anyone at all.” 

Construction inflation

Personally, the contractor is not too affected by the lack in supply, as he has been working with more or less the same group from Aleppo for more than a decade. He warned that the cost of labor is neither the sole nor the main cause for the increase in construction costs. “Fuel, steel, lead, cables, everything has become more expensive,” he said.

Still, that has not stopped the Lebanese from building. According to figures released by the Order of Engineers of Beirut and Tripoli, the Lebanese authorities issued construction permits for a total of nearly 6.1 million square meters during the first seven months of 2008, an increase of 26.5% compared to the same period last year.

Even the clashes in May 2008 did not stop the builders from building, although the increase in construction activity that month was relatively smaller than in other months. Most permits issued (49.8%) concerned the Mount Lebanon region, followed by north Lebanon (16.5%), South Lebanon (15.9%), Beirut (12.1%) and the Bekaa (5.6%).

The increase in construction activities is to a large extent caused by a soaring demand for real estate. According to the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL) over $4.3 billion worth of properties were sold in Lebanon in 2007 alone. Most buyers are Lebanese expatriates working in the Gulf, Europe and the US. According to most real estate brokers, the price of properties in Beirut and Mount Lebanon saw an average increase by some 40% over the past year.

Soaring real estate

“The price of medium and high end property in Beirut has increased by some 35% to 40% over the last four months alone,” estimated Raja Makarem of Ramco Real Estate Advisers. According to him, however, the price increase hike is not so much the result of a rise in construction cost, but by a surge in demand, some 90% of which stems from Lebanese expatriates.

Still, he expected a (minor) market correction to take place during the coming months, mainly due to the current instability in the world’s financial markets. “Over the last three years, the market grew by some 25% to 30% a year, while this year by up to 40%,” he said. “I think the market will go back to normal growth figures in the coming months.”

While the Lebanese banking and real estate sectors have so far not been tarred by the American subprime and financial market crises, Lebanese expatriates may adopt a wait-and-see attitude before investing. In addition, some may have been personally affected by the crash in international stock markets, while others may have lost their jobs due to the collapse of banking giants such as Lehman Bros.

“Although there is no crisis whatsoever, the recent craze for Lebanese real estate may be over, at least temporarily,” Makarem concluded. 

Dressed in white and blue shirts or in grey or black uniforms emblazoned with their company logos, valets scurry around the streets of Beirut, at the entrances of posh restaurants and fashionable clubs where the Lebanese, from jeunesse dorée to middle-aged businessmen, like to see and be seen. They have become a fixture in our life, an immutable service on which all venue owners heavily rely.

In a city where the nightlife industry prevails, winning over more traditional commercial sectors with time, finding a parking spot has become a tricky task. Fashionable areas such as Gemayzeh, Monot, Downtown, Abdel Wahab Street, as well as venues like Sky Bar, White, Riviera, Centrale and Buddha Bar boast a flurry of valets waiting to park the vehicles of customers going out for dinner, a dance or just to grab a quick drink.

Valet parking companies seem to have sprouted around Beirut. Primitive business models built on one freelancer managing a team of valets, have morphed into full-fledged companies, employing tens if not hundreds of people during the peak season. In most places, shabby young men valeting clients’ cars have been replaced by clean-cut employees, respectfully familiar with clients’ names, cars and social status. Although mom-and-pop-style operations still prevail in some areas, they have increasingly been replaced by large companies with names such as VIP, Private or VPS, the latter being owned by Mohamad Mazyad, a.k.a. “Abu Brahim.”

Abu Brahim got his first job parking cars in the early 1990s at the St. Georges resort. Later, employed by one of the ‘freelancers’, he also handled valet parking of the Trad Hospital, followed by the Caracas Bar. In the mid-nineties he was promoted by his employer to the position of supervisor. He was so good at it that in 1998 he decided to abandon his day job in a gas station to dedicate his time to work in valet parking, after taking over his former employer’s operation. “I signed my first contract with the Hard Rock Café and also started to offer this type of service for the McDonald’s food chain,” Abu Brahim said. In 1999, he got his big break after landing the valet parking of Circus, at the time one of the Lebanese capital’s hippest venues. Business then also expanded to managing valet parking for beaches, including Bamboo Bay resort. “Today I manage the parking facilities of some 45 places, which extend from Beirut to the South, if beaches are included, and in the various streets of Beirut such as Monot, Verdun and downtown areas. I also managed the valet parking services at the presidential palace for the wedding of Emile Emile Lahoud [the son of the former Lebanese president],” he said.

Pulling ahead

Abu Brahim believes that to succeed in this line of business, managers need to be wise, patient and acute to clients needs. In bars and clubs around town, the level of service valet parking provided has become inherent to the venue’s image, an efficient valet parking task force thus contributing to or impeding a location’s popularity. The relationship between venue owners and valet parking services is usually defined by a contract delineating conditions such as insurance or formal attire the valets are required to wear.

When asked about money changing hands between venue managers or owners and valet parking companies in order to be granted the deal, Abu Brahim denied the allegation. “I only pay a rental feel for the venue owner in case I use his parking when one is available,” he said. Nonetheless, Gemayzeh owners have said, without incriminating any company in particular, that they had been approached by valet parking providers who offered a financial compensation against being granted a contract. Some freelancers valet parking in Gemayzeh said that they earn around $2,500 dollars every month, and up to $4,000 dollars during peak season.

Of course, there is the question of accidents. “They happen when cars are involved, although not so frequently if compared to the actual size of the operation. We have had about 11 accidents in an 18 months period and they were covered by the insurance company,” said Abu Brahim, but refused to disclose the amount of the actual coverage.

Although contracts between venue owners and the valet parking services providers are supposed to be binding, they have known to be broken without contestation from the service provider.

“My public relations and marketing approach rests on my name in the market and my credibility as a service provider. I am neither a lord nor the son of a lord,” said Abu Brahim.

Valet parking providers around Beirut run the risks of theft or vandalism perpetrated against their clients’ cars. In order to curb that risk, and avoid complaints or police intervention, valet parking companies have put in place certain security procedures. As Abu Brahim explained, “I have established a system of control, whereby every car picked up from a client is given a number and a card that indicates the name of the person who received the car and parked it as well as the name of the person who dropped it off. This particular system allows a better control on the actual flow of vehicles.”

Besides a team of valets Abu Brahim has one supervisor at every venue and an assistant who controls payments made by clients. A patrol also goes around the different venues and makes sure the operation is running smoothly. “I personally visit all the venues on the weekends starting Thursday during winter, while I am on call all week during summertime,” he added.

According to Abu Brahim, the peak of the season for valet parking services remains the summer, when foreign tourists — mostly from the Gulf — come to Lebanon and Lebanese expatriates flock back to their hometowns. In the various bars and clubs, valet parking rates are about LL5,000 ($3.33) per car. Clients who want to show off their cars at entrance of clubs tend to be generous tippers and among the various nationalities whose cars the valets park, the Lebanese remain the best tippers. “I have one client who pays hundreds of dollars but good tippers tend to pay LL100,000 ($65),” said Abu Brahim.

Location, location, location

The location of venues and bars are indicators of the importance of the valet service. Big clubs such as Sky Bar, White, or Riviera will attract many partygoers and hence generate a handsome return for companies managing their valet parking.

“Managing valet services for a club such as Sky Bar is great, as the venue has all the right elements to be successful: a mix of the right people, the right venue, the proper management and a parking spot that can accommodate enough cars. Verdun is another area that attracts many city dwellers as it is constantly bustling with activity whether during the day or at night, as well as all year round,” Abu Brahim pointed out.

The entrepreneur explained that he has avoided providing valet services in Gemyazeh, one of Beirut’s most popular streets, known for its many bars and old buildings. “There are not enough parking spots in the area and we end up clogging the street and using residents’ parking spots,” he said. He prefers not to provide valet services for a venue that does not have a proper parking lot in the vicinity, which could be used as a last resort when activity is at its peak.

VPS employs a secretary, a human resource manager and accountant, as well as a team of valets, a large number of which are employed permanently. During summer Abu Brahim also employs university students who possess a driving license and have undergone three days training, after which they are hired for $500 a month.

Abu Brahim explains that valet parking is about creating a good atmosphere, saying, “At the end of the day, our company is providing a service and a good one. I make sure that everyone leaving a venue is happy and I do not allow my men to ask clients for payment if they inadvertently forget to tip them. This is not what our company is about.”