EXECUTIVE MAGAZINE PODCASTS

Special Report: Energy security

Thu, 04 Jan 2024 09:25:26 GMT

Executive talks to Mrs. Cristina Abi Haidar, a lawyer and a legal expert on energy and Mr. Mario Ghoraieb, the energy program manager at ICU, about energy conservation in Lebanon and the state of regulation and facilitation of renewable energy at the government level, as well as the regional outlook for energy security.

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Special Report: Energy Security

Thu, 04 Jan 2024 09:17:38 GMT

Executive talks to Mrs. Nadine Tawk, a business development trade lead at USAID and Mr. Danny Maalouly, a senior advisor at USAID about access to finance for satisfaction of Lebanon’s energy sufficiency needs and long-term aim of sustainable energy security

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Special Report: Food Infrastructure and Innovation

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 12:08:08 GMT

Access to finance is a major barrier to the development of infrastructure for the agriculture sector.Much needed Investment in general and agro-specific hard infrastructure along with soft infrastructure is vital for the sector to flourish.

Executive talks to Mrs. Michele Mouracade the fund advisor at Al Fanar Impact and Mr. Nicolas Rouhana the Chairman & CEO of IM capital about the state of Lebanon’s food sector, and how this crucial part of soft infrastructure can be restored to full power.

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Special Report: Agricultural entrepreneurship

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 11:45:00 GMT

Executive talks to Mrs. Lara ElKhoury (Program manager-Berytech), Mrs. Angie Meskawi (founder of cheeserie) and Mrs. Sarah Joseph (founder of Olive bio) – INTERVIEW

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Special Report: Building food security entrepreneurially

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 07:46:29 GMT

An entrepreneurship ecosystem captures the essence of entrepreneurial energy in a cycle of economic life. Those will often be minds emerging from the tertiary education system, although the entrepreneurial spirit can just as well shine in self-taught enterprise builders who have fortified themselves.

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Special Report: Many trees in the garden

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 07:42:46 GMT

Lebanese agriculture today is a field with many plots whose diversity has already grown when compared with some five years ago. Economically or politically dismissing the weed option in agricultural development scenarios would be extremely counterproductive to hopes for optimally developing the agricultural sector.

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Special Report: Entrepreneurs to fight food security

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 07:37:27 GMT

Given the absence of the government’s’ efforts to deal with the challenges that the agriculture sector is facing, private sector and international NGOs have stepped up to address destructive solutions to startups and young entrepreneurs in order to fight food insecurity.

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Special Report: Land of milk and honey?

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 10:17:28 GMT

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Special Report: Buzzing with diversity and contradictions

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 09:48:51 GMT

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Special report: Circular agriculture

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 09:08:07 GMT

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Special report: Food security & food safety

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 10:32:59 GMT

In Lebanon, 46 percent of households are food insecure – a figure likely to rise in the coming months as state subsidies on essential imports like cooking oil, bread and rice, come under strain as the government struggles to provide foreign currency. As Lebanon’s ability to import goods reduces, it is necessary to turn inwards and assess the ability of the local agriculture industry in meeting the country’s growing needs.

With that in mind, Executive talks to Atef Idriss, CEO of the Middle East and North Africa Food Safety Associates, and Marc Bou Zeidan, a cluster manager at Qoot, a Lebanese agri-food cluster, to discuss efficiency gaps in the sector, while exploring feasible solutions and sustainable opportunities.

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Special report: Talking Media Actions

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 09:14:13 GMT

Leveraging the abilities of Lebanon-based media in the digital age is a great regional opportunity for news organizations.

Following on from the media action plan project, Executive sits with Alia Ibrahim, the co-founder and CEO of Daraj, and Ahmad Salman, general manager of As-safir Newspaper, to discuss the potential for growth within Lebanese media.

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Special report: Banking & Finance

Tue, 04 Oct 2022 08:12:44 GMT

Unrest among depositors and citizens has taken new shapes in recent weeks. Tempers are out of control in the face of inactive decision makers and silent banks. The current time is pivotal not only for political decisions, but also for hopes of economic reform and legislation to put the country on the road to recovery, after years of major disruption to Lebanon’s banking and finance sector.

With that in mind, Executive talks to Ms. Diana Menhem, managing director of Kulluna Irada, a local NGO advocating for reforms, and Mr. Khaled Zeidan, general manager of Capital-EE, a corporate advisory firm, about the future needs of and options for Lebanon’s financial markets.

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Special report: Financing renewable energy

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 09:22:00 GMT

In the financial crisis, renewable energy has emerged as both a great need and important solution for Lebanese households and enterprises.

Executive Magazine talks to Carol Ayat, the energy finance expert, and to Joe Hawi, the managing director of systems supplier Nova Energia, about the challenges in the adoption of renewable energy, particularly regarding financing and quality guarantees.

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Special report: Dangling hopes for alternatives

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 20:30:00 GMT

Nothing illustrates the state of renewable energy in Lebanon better than the solar panels dangling on the wall of the second floor of the building adjacent to Executive’s offices. Four randomly fixed solar panels on the facade constitute the latest addition to an already cluttered scene filled with ill-arranged electricity wires, loose TV cables, dripping air conditioning split units, water tanks, satellite dishes, and unevenly clustered balconies. Each represents the individualism of the vulnerable which feeds on desperation and leads to random asynchronous behavior, and opportunity losses that can never be recovered.

The obvious comparable parallel is the electricity generator business situation. An industry that mushroomed, feeding on citizens’ hunger for a missing living essential and exploited by greed, fraud, and chaos. Absence of regulatory oversight is the ideal environment for shady, corrupt, and irresponsible practices at the expense of helpless citizens who are predisposed to adopt short-term solutions.

It is this virtue at the heart of our survival instinct that is our worst enemy. We have become masters in dealing with catastrophes, relying only on our collective yet individualist problem-solving knacks which seem to have subdued our power to stand up for what is right and confront those responsible. How many more of our rights are we willing to surrender before we realize that our escapist voyeur attitude is what is allowing our corrupt and inept political class to keep coming for more?

To Executive’s neighbor and proud owner of the new solar panels, mabrouk for now, but never forget why you had to invest in this system, and hopefully never forgive those who drove you to do so.

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Special report: Incentivize to energize

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 08:37:36 GMT

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Special report: Dreaming a bright (lit) future

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 08:30:50 GMT

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Special report: Left in the wind for now

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 08:30:18 GMT

In February 2018, the Ministry of Energy and Water, representing the Government of Lebanon, had signed Power Purchasing Agreements with three wind farm developers for the development, installation, and operation of wind power generators in the Akkar region with a cumulative capacity of wind power of 226 MW. According to the terms of the agreement, the first units of power produced by these projects were supposed to be injected into the national electricity grid, and not a moment too soon, considering the current state of the electricity sector in the country.

Sadly, the project was delayed and has not seriously kicked off to date. The present financing difficulties make it unlikely it will resume unless outside funding is secured.

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Special report: A moment in the sun

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 08:26:20 GMT

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