After our trip in Europe and living in Finland for the last 2 years, I came to the conclusion that nowhere on earth is like Lebanon, of course, am talking carrier wise and hospitality sector.
I wanted to write this article to introduce the “a la libanaise” way of doing things. In Lebanon, you have 2 kinds of sectors, private and public sector and the gap between both is huge. The public sector, is a corrupted, non-organized, chaotic sector and the most hypocrite side of it is that they claim (the newly or old elected government) claims that they are on the path to reforms.
Funding for reforms from EU and US and other GC has reached its peak but where are these funds that have pledged to the Lebanese government? As a Lebanese, see no progress in any sector. Electricity cuts still go on in on daily basis, some areas even do not get electricity for more than 6 hours daily. And the business of owning a generator to cover a few blocks might get you rich. There are even a few persons ( and I do not mean companies ) that run cable tv service, internet service, generator service in the same blocks and these people do not belong to any company and do not pay taxes neither there is any control over them .
The system goes by the fact that if you have money, you can be a king! The Lebanese situation is frustrating for many people living here; the locals are suffering from the rise of prices. The expensive lifestyle and the demand of a society that claims to be modern and take as it’s idol the west, but shame that people take everything in a contradiction, if you were D&G it is not for the sake of buying quality labels but for the sake of showing off to your friends and surrounding that you are something or you are better than the rest of the people.
The frustration and despair of the local middle class (that is basically non-existent) or that have immigrant is shocking, People are dreaming to go abroad, the dreams of becoming a citizen of a first world country or going to the GC where job opportunities are higher is everyday’s talk. One of my friends when I came back goes and tell me “Jad, there is no more guys in Lebanon” I cannot find a descent boyfriend.
And since I work in the hospitality industry, I can see on daily basis Lebanese immigrants or non-Lebanese men visiting to get engaged or to get to know more their future wife from Lebanon to say.
I went too far maybe with explaining the conditions of life here, but since I am back here temporary or maybe permanently, I figured that it is nice to put a small overview on life in Beirut. Now coming back to our private sector, the private sector suffers deeply from the old systems and the non-advanced way of adapting to its progress by the Public sector. The progress shown by the company that are Lebanese owned is amazing, Lebanese companies specially in fields of F&B, hospitality, industries, architectures are all now based in UAE, KSA, KW and Qatar. These companies from Lebanese origins are now a core in the fast progress of the gulf. Lebanese, have invaded these countries to say. Lebanese banks have opened branches all over the Arab world in a plan to attract investors and rich Arabs.
Lebanon benefits highly from Dubai, Doha and other countries and fortunately this is what keeps it stable financially regardless of the unstable political situation that it has been suffering. The shame and I say shame is that Lebanese people living here do not benefit from these steps. The law of the jungle still rules in Lebanon, regardless of all the promises of reforms and promises of a better life for Lebanese citizens that have the biggest asset for their country, the successful immigrants abroad.
In my opinion, Lebanese didn’t change much after 15 years from the civil war, there is huge reconstruction, huge investments and loads of money being plunged here but unfortunately it is not distributed equally and it supports the massive corruption run by the Media and politicians. I will remain in Lebanon, for the few coming month and will keep u updated how will the tourism industry will do and how will this promised summer after the Doha accord will benefit or take Lebanon into stability and prosperity.
Thank you for reading and my apologies to my readers for not posting more frequently.
JaD