entrepreneurship and dignity. The pillars of a microcredit project

The history of the Hope Center, a solidary reality oriented, above all, to young people, without distinction of ethnicity or religion. The headquarters is located in one of the neighborhoods most affected by the explosion in the port of 2020. Chairman of the Board of Directors: the rights of a person begin with a house and a job. In a few months, funds were granted for nearly forty projects, many of them in the agri-food sector.

Beirut () – “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”, says the proverb. And it is the axiom around which the activities of the Hope Center revolve, a new reality that deals with the financing of micro-enterprises and whose headquarters are located in the heart of the picturesque neighborhood of Gemmayzé, one of the most affected by the explosion of the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020.

“To protect the rights of a person, the first thing that must be guaranteed is a roof and a job. We deal with the second aspect. The speaker is the president of the Board of Directors of the Hope Center, Maurice el-Beaino, whose headquarters are located on the third floor of the San Antonio building, a building covered in white marble. This 39-year-old executive, with two degrees in Economics and Political Science behind him, runs the center with great efficiency, aware that he must distinguish himself from the multitude of associations that have sprung up like mushrooms since the explosion in the port. And above all, he has to justify every last euro entrusted to him, even though the center’s salaries are low.

Founded by a businessman, Hope Center is supported by the French NGO L’Œuvre d’Orient and is co-financed by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD): a double guarantee of total transparency both in financing and in the use of funds. The center has fifteen employees and is intended only for Lebanese, but without making distinctions of ethnicity or religion. One of its purposes is that at least 50% of the people it helps are under 35 years of age, and at this time 30% of them are women.

“By turning Lebanese businessmen into actors in their economic life – says Maurice el-Beaino – Hope Center wants to help boost the local economy and stop the massive emigration that has caused the country’s collapse. Our goal is to help and train 500 small entrepreneurs in three years (bakers, hairdressers, carpenters, restorers, educators, stylists, taxi drivers, etc.) and at the same time consolidate coexistence by creating a kind of community of beneficiaries”.

In seven months of life, Hope Center has already awarded funds to about forty beneficiaries. One of them is Gaël Chaèr, 26, single, who worked as a clerk in a pharmacy in Bourj Hammoud. Her story is iconic. She was seriously injured in the leg during the explosion at the port, and with a meager annual salary of 3 million Lebanese pounds she could barely survive, because she also had her parents taking care of her. However, her spirit of initiative, her passion for cosmetic products, her knowledge and the support she received from her at the center allowed her to recover. With a master’s degree in dermatology and certified cosmetology experience, she has created a line of beauty products called “The Skin Savvy” based in Sad el-Bauchrieh, on the empty top floor of the pharmacy where she worked. before. She today she also dreams of being able to get married.

Two commissions select the financing requests that arrive at the center. The credibility and feasibility of the projects are subjected to a rigorous examination. “However, adds Maurine el-Beaino, “the human aspect is never left aside. You always take part of the risk. We are here to ensure transparency. And, if necessary, we offer training to those who apply for funding, we we accompany them during a section of their professional career, to ensure that they can manage the project they have undertaken”.

Among the forty already approved, the agri-food sector is the largest. “It may be because the Lebanese are used to buying provisions in the summer, or because everyone needs to eat,” explains the Chairman of the Board of Directors. He adds, amused, that the Hope Center has funded, among other things, the purchase of a tricycle for a retailer and an electric nutcracker to produce almond milk, a cow’s milk substitute in high demand right now.

muscles and smile

The owner of this gym, Charbel Wakim, whom we have met at the Hope Center, assures us between muscles and smiles that he has a title of “personal trainer”. As he has only one eye, he had systematically failed the examinations to obtain a degree in Sports and Motor Sciences.

“We helped him -says el-Beaino- to open two educational centers specialized in accompaniment and school recovery” in Mansouriyé and Raouda, on the outskirts of Beirut. “We maintain -he explains in response to a question- a certain degree of control over prices, so that they are in accordance with the possibilities of the inhabitants of these neighborhoods, where the school dropout rate is very high”.

“The protection of the dignity of the beneficiaries occupies the first place in the approach and the way of operating of the Hope Center”, concludes Maurice el-Beaino. Our main concern is the new poor, what used to be the middle class, which is also the most affected by the crisis. On the other hand, those who belong to this category – he concludes – do not know how to ask for help. The poor are used to doing it, but for the new poor, personal dignity also comes into play”.