Imane Charioui, Director of Francophone Africa & Middle East
Beirut, Lebanon – 2022: Despite the many socio-economic challenges facing the world, Lebanese people always seek opportunities within their immediate environments or across borders to succeed while transferring the gains within communities and beyond.
Over 1.2 billion youth are growing up in the digital era, and for many who emigrate from places like Lebanon, there is an expectation to fast-track development in communities and safeguard the future.1
There are many ways to ensure that our youth population can continue to thrive and fulfil their potential. Access to infrastructural opportunities like a quality education, skills acquisition, and early introduction into financial resources and best practices are some of the most important resources for youth empowerment.
However, according to a report by UNICEF2, Lebanon’s crisis is increasingly forcing youth to drop out of school and engage in ill-paid, irregular and informal work to help their families financially. This is why remittances are an important source of income for many people in Lebanon.
Remittances fuel education. Access to education has the potential to power productivity, foster an entrepreneurial-minded population, and raise awareness of global economic challenges.
In Lebanon, young people are utilising their education and leveraging technology to tackle national problems, such as improving access to finance, education, food, and driving youth empowerment.
As we continue to evolve how we operate as a country in the aftermath of COVID-19, having smart, technology-forward solutions and options are more essential than ever. In finance, digital solutions are critically important for people in rural communities where resources are limited, but have also helped sustain our way of life throughout the pandemic.
The outbreak of COVID-19 drove innovative solutions that proved how effective application of advanced education can be as we quickly advanced various platforms like video conferencing for both personal and daily business life, financial solutions, medical communications and in countless other ways.
A recent Gallup World Poll indicates that quality of life has deteriorated so much in Lebanon that most people – a record-high 63% in 2021 – say they would leave the country permanently if they could.3
This means that opportunities exist to increase remittances to the country, thereby funding access to education and skills development that are critical for driving youth empowerment and youth-led solutions.
So far, raising funds for Lebanon has been effective through the support of diaspora, according to the reports by the Union of Arab Banks and the World Bank data, the Lebanese remittances constituted 18.9% of country’s GDP in 2020.4 It means that young Lebanese in the diaspora are encouraged to send funds home through approved channels like WorldRemit, and the benefits thereof will be felt by both the country and individuals’ families thereby creating income for economic empowerment.
The Lebanese youth diaspora community are included in this circle of impact, many of whom emigrated in search of economic and educational opportunities. In return, they are making contributions in their host communities, transferring knowledge to empower other youth at home or fueling a pipeline of funds for the general well-being of family and friends at home. A great example of how this can impact one’s life is through the story of Marianne Zakhour.
Marianne Zakhour is a Lebanese young woman who grew up in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but always dreamed of living in Lebanon one day. Her efforts to help Lebanese people are abundant; she co-founded Orderbot, an e-commerce, order management and back office platform for modern e-commerce, which was recently acquired by a US firm. Today, aside from running her own business, Zakhour is also outsourcing tech work to Lebanese in their home country through LebNet, a non-profit organisation that is committed to enabling tech entrepreneurs and professionals of Lebanese descent to succeed on a global stage, as a way of giving back.5
Our youth are one of the most critical segments of the population that must continue to receive investments, support and protection. They own the future and will be responsible for driving many of the investments and economic plans already in motion. If we do not empower them with the right levels of skills, resources and education, we may be setting ourselves up to undo many of the successes already recorded in the country.
Sources:
- United Nations. International Youth Day.August 2019
- Reliefweb. Searching for Hope: A Grim Outlook for Youth as Lebanon Teeters on the Brink of Collapse. January 2022
- Gallup. Leaving Lebanon: Crisis Has Most People Looking for Exit. December 2021
- Beirut Today. Lebanon’s last lifeline: Its diaspora. April 2022
- LebNet. LebNet’s Women in Tech video series: 1-1 chat with Marianne Zakhour. 2020
About WorldRemit
We’re a leading global payments company and, along with Sendwave, part of Zepz, a group powering two global payments brands.
We disrupted an industry previously dominated by offline legacy players by taking international money transfers online – making them safer, faster and lower-cost. We currently send from 50 countries to recipients in 130 countries, operate in more than 5,000 money transfer corridors worldwide and employ over 1,200 people globally.
On the sending side WorldRemit is 100% digital (cashless), increasing convenience and enhancing security. For those receiving money, the company offers a wide range of options including bank deposit, cash collection, mobile airtime top-up and mobile money.
Backed by Accel, TCV and Leapfrog – WorldRemit’s headquarters are in London, United Kingdom with regional offices around the globe.