Lebanon Part II: On War, Entrepreneurship, and Enchantment
By Kristyna Zapletalova, May 20, 2015
http://blog.maqtoob.com/lebanon-part-ii-on-war-entrepreneurship-and-enchantment
Despite the dreadful war that is raging in neighboring Syria, Beirut is a city full of life and it's not uncommon to see groups of tourists on the streets and youth having fun in overcrowded pubs at night. Even though more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees joined the original Lebanese population of 4 million, we were quite astonished how well (at least on the surface) the country is dealing with yet another catastrophe in the region.
For us the most palpable testimony was the unsupportable traffic, as the number of cars had increased together with the influx of new inhabitants. Our Lebanese home and the universities where we organized most of our workshops were separated by mere few kilometers but the trip could easily take 1.5 hours in a shared taxi. Due to lack of public transport and high competition among taxi license owners, drivers try to take on as many passengers as possible and are used to moving along the road at the pace of a turtle, honking at everything with two legs.

Our original plan was to organize four workshops, at maximum, in each country we're going to visit during the yearlong tour. Even before we launched MAQTOOB On The Move, our small team was overwhelmed with gazillions of tasks linked to bootstrapping a growing startup. Yet, due to the enormously positive feedback, we ended up giving 8 presentations, ranging in size from small intimate groups to huge noisy auditoriums.
We talked to Lebanese startups in a garden setting of a co-working space +961 (dial code for Lebanon), to students of American University of Beirut (number one university in the country), and of Lebanese American University (founded in 1835 by American Presbyterian missionaries as the first school for girls in Turkish empire), to Lebanese eco-entrepreneurs, and to representatives of Lebanese family businesses. As usual, we elaborated on the advantages of embracing new technologies while building and running a business and presented a few useful and affordable apps that could help build strong online presence, manage finances, boost productivity, or help with social media.
Many of the apps that are pretty familiar to the hardcore tech startup community, such as Trello or Buffer, were new for most of the people we met, and we were super motivated by the curiosity and interest sparked by our lectures and ensuing discussions. Especially the students (design, business, engineering) seemed to be attracted to our message that the Internet and available software make it possible to become an entrepreneur practically overnight.
That’s why we decided to ask Adib El Aile, student of Banking and Finance at LAU, who helped us organize some of the events: Do Lebanese students see entrepreneurship as a realistic opportunity or an unattainable dream? How would you describe the eventual obstacles and current reality?

"Its neither a dream nor a reality yet, it is somewhere in between. A lot of effort still needs to be made for entrepreneurship to become a realistic career opportunity for students, and these efforts should be directed at eliminating some major drawbacks.
We urgently need to fix our Internet speed, I can't say this enough! This reality is a major hurdle to development. Also, more effort should be put into raising awareness among university students, who are the major group to drive entrepreneurship in the future (today only three universities in Lebanon are offering a solid entrepreneurship program for their students). Last but not least, in the long run, growth of the Lebanese entrepreneurship scene depends heavily on the ability of the Lebanese government to build an appropriate financial system to help Lebanese startups to exist here in Lebanon.
Today entrepreneurship is being developed in a specific circle, during distinct events, and around key people, and it might look like a very distinct environment, but this is rapidly changing as a result of the growing number of private and public initiatives that are trying to push entrepreneurship to the forefront through conferences, startup competitions, and forums. Having said all that, we can't but acknowledge the huge progress achieved during the last three years and we can confidently say that the future of entrepreneurship in Lebanon looks very promising."
We were also very lucky to meet and talk to students and alumni of journalism studies at LAU, and we took the opportunity to interview Yasmine Dabbous, Assistant Professor at Department of Communication Arts: Given the radicalization of the region and challenges related to practicing journalism in Lebanon, how can the concept of entrepreneurship help aspiring writers build their authority and make their stories heard?

"Media in Lebanon and the region are increasingly weaponized and thus quite far from the independent journalism model. Supported by regional and foreign governments, personalities or powers, they force aspiring journalists to limit their speech to a particular discourse serving the agenda of the funders. It is largely an unfree and dependent market.
In such an unfortunate environment, technology and entrepreneurship provide hope. Aspiring writers can now establish their own media online. Smartphones and the Internet are accessible and affordable. The step requires initiative and self-discipline but it is feasible. Entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with technological possibilities, opens new doors to those who do not want to take sides, and who wish to work as watchdogs rather than lapdogs."
When I landed in Beirut for the first time in 2012, long before MAQTOOB was born and more than a decade after the end of the 15-year long civil war, I felt but optimism in the air. The conflict in Syria brought back a big deal of skepticism and omnipresent insecurity, but during our recent stay we experienced Lebanese to be very resistant and entrepreneurial souls (by the way, the 2nd richest man of the planet after Bill Gates, Carlos Slim Helu, is of Lebanese origin).
Lebanon itself is a country of stunning beauty, fantastic food, and vibrant cultural life. We were very sorry to leave and we encourage anyone to learn more about this tiny but truly enchanting state.
Check our first video: MAQTOOB On The Move – Lebanon
Kristyna Zapletalova
Founder & CEO
After spending a few years in emerging countries of the Middle East and Asia, Kristyna decided to build an easy-to-use business app discovery platform to encourage financial self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship. She is on a mission to help aspiring entrepreneurs across all age groups, both genders, and different levels of IT skills to find the necessary and affordable tools needed to start and grow their businesses