ELCIM at "Business Opportunities in Lebanon"

October 7, 2009

For the seventh consecutive year, Lebanon opportunities in collaboration with ELCIM organized its annual event "Business Opportunities in Lebanon" on October 7-8, 2009, at the Convention Center in Dbayeh.

Several thousands of the country's top manufacturers, business leaders, decision-makers, investors, and managers attended, as well as dozens of foreign investors and businesspeople.

The event started by showing a short documentary- Living industry- produced by ELCIM and an inaugural ceremony followed. The inauguration session was led by H.E Jihad Azour with key industrialists and economists where questions regarding the economic situation and the possible solutions to the expected prolonged gridlock in the public sector were raised and discussed.

A series of workshops took place in the following two days. The topics covered included finance, marketing, human resource management, industry, hospitality and tourism, information technology, real estate, general trade, and other.

ELCIM organized a workshop on “Financial Incentives to Industry” on October 8, where a walkthrough of available financial incentive programs, practical applications, and how to overcome hurdles and difficulties have been presented. Two case studies from two different companies – Technica International & MG tools- shared were presented to share their business experience.

Another workshop on “Getting Technical Support” was held on October 8, where presenters came from the Chamber of Commerce of Tripoli and Zahle, AUB, IRI and Libanpack. The discussed their services and the technical support which they have received. The aim of this session was to inform the industrialists that technical support for their businesses is provided by many and is easy to access.

ELCIM participated in other workshops as well:
“Fighting Technical Barriers to Trade” where the results of a recently conducted study by InfoPro on behalf of UNIDO identifying the main barriers to exporting food products was presented. An outline of the major challenges faced by the industrialists and the proposed practical solutions were presented. Two case studies from two different companies –Khater & Kanz- were discussed. These cases talked about the barriers faced by them upon exporting their food products.

“Made in Lebanon: Appellation and Practical Benefits” where what determines the appellation of ‘Made in Lebanon’ and associated calculations were explained. A discussion of the practical benefits to manufacturers and users of the appellation took place.