Yusr Sabra’s day starts as early as 4 am with a long list of things to do that are pre-set and scheduled the day before. As a mother and an entrepreneur, time management and optimization are at the core of her work as the founder and director of Wakilni, a concierge, courier, and delivery service provider for small and medium e-commerce businesses.

“My day is planned for the second because there is a lot to do, and I am trying to accommodate everything that needs to be done. For me, being methodical is key to being close to the operation and on the ground down to the minor details,” Sabra says.

The 40-year-old entrepreneur’s journey started in 2016 after she acquired valuable experience with Solidere, the company in charge of the reconstruction and development of Beirut’s Central District. As an electrical engineer, she was responsible for the technical and maintenance services of the facilities in the area.

“This is where I learned how to manage teams of technicians and gained a lot of experience,” Sabra says. When Solidere began downsizing in 2014, she quit and worked on setting up her own business.

“I had noticed a huge gap in the market of non-technical, concierge-like services, at a time not many apps were available for online services,” she recalls.

STEADY GROWTH

Starting by catering to expats’ needs and processing administrative tasks for foreigners and nationals, Wakilni then turned to accommodate the e-commerce sector, providing B2C and B2B services, especially to SMEs, which were witnessing steady growth.

When Lebanon’s unprecedented financial and economic crisis erupted in 2019, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and the massive Beirut port explosion in 2020, Wakilni faced critical times, losing some 70% of the work volume overnight. 

But she did not give up. She launched a crowdfunding campaign featuring a video appealing for donations, mainly from Lebanese expats. The video caught the attention of angel investors, who pumped money into the campaign and helped the company overcome the crisis and sustain itself.

Today, Wakilni employs 360 people, has seven offices covering Lebanon and Jordan, and offers warehousing and packaging services.

Despite the challenges that she has been facing, Sabra considers her life to be fulfilling. “To be working and building something in one’s country and providing for the livelihoods of the employees and their families is very rewarding. This is what really keeps me going.”

Although the situation for women entrepreneurs in Lebanon is more favorable than in other countries in the region, female entrepreneurship is still relatively low. The majority of women-owned businesses in the country operate in the informal sector, making it more difficult for women to access formal finance from banks. 

Nonetheless, women entrepreneurs stand tall despite many economic and financial woes. 

AFFORDABLE CLOTHING

For Riham Hijazi, what started as a small workshop at home to cater to her own needs for fashionable, good-quality, and affordable clothing developed into a full-fledged business serving a large clientele.

“I started producing pieces for my own needs. They were very stylish and attracted many people,” the 35-year-old mother of two said. Encouraged by the feedback on her designs, Hijazi started an online shop with a full-fledged website in 2015. She employed a small team of local women in her hometown of Nabatiyeh in south Lebanon.

Unlike other businesses adversely impacted by the economic crisis, Hijazi’s Rush and Reez brand of locally made clothing witnessed a boom.

“We had over 300% growth in 2019-2020, as many foreign brands closed down or became too expensive for the people in a country under severe financial crisis. This further encouraged us to develop new designs and have a bigger production that suits all budgets.”

The business was bootstrapped entirely, except for a minor angel loan and a few small grants.

Hijazi points out that being a housewife, mother, and successful businesswoman necessitates discipline and a tightly-organized schedule. “My weekdays are clearly divided and focalized. There are days dedicated to marketing and others to financing, quality control, and design. On weekends, I would have my laptop at hand and work while watching the kids doing their activities.”

QUALITY PRODUCTS

Taqa Snacks, a brainchild of entrepreneur Soumaya Merhi, is Lebanon’s leading pre-packed healthy snack producer. It is the outcome of a ten-year journey by the 36-year-old housewife who transformed old Lebanese recipes into appetizing bites using local organic ingredients and employing a local workforce from her native town of Anfeh and from north Lebanon.

Through her ten different products, which she also exports to Arab Gulf countries, Merhi seeks to convey a message and raise environmental awareness. “We collaborate a lot with the outdoor communities and athletes who are big consumers of our healthy and energy snacks. In 2019, we organized the cross-swim from Lebanon to Cyprus to raise awareness about plastics dumped in our seas.” 

For Merhi, offering quality products is at the core of the business. “You need to have a business model that can expand with opportunity and retract when there is risk and crisis. And you need to sustain that baseline,” she says.

Merhi contends that a content workforce is a pillar of the business.  “Business owners need to show understanding of the people they employ, especially mothers who, with the ongoing crisis, had to work to contribute to the household,” she said, adding: “Making a difference even in one person’s life is so rewarding.”