Fouad Zamkahel is President of the International Federation of Lebanese Businessmen and Women MIDEL
and Dean of the School of Business Administration at Saint Joseph University USJ
1 * Where and how did your journey begin with the gathering of businessmen and women in Lebanon and the gathering of Lebanese businessmen and women abroad? What Fouad Zamkahel added to this gathering and that, and the burdens, worries, and responsibilities that the latter carried for you. What complementary relationship exists between a creative person like you and the institutions that he manages? When and how did you make the decision to switch to academic affairs?
– I was elected president of the Lebanese Businessmen Association in Lebanon in 2011, and this experience allowed me to understand much more about the concerns of Lebanese businessmen and entrepreneurs, and to engage in economic and social life in parliamentary and ministerial committees, and even international committees. On this first official trip for me, I quickly understood that the Lebanese economy, Lebanese companies, and even Lebanese businessmen and women, cannot grow and develop without opening up to the outside. Lebanon is a commercial, industrial, and tourism platform, or rather, I was convinced that Lebanon is a laboratory, where it trains the most important human resources, and we test and experiment with the most important constructive inventions, and then we export our successes and our goods to all parts of the world.
After six years of experience as the head of the internal Lebanese assembly, my priority was to open up to the outside and build strong and fruitful synergies and partnerships with our Lebanese counterparts around the world. After the extended meeting with the Board of Directors and the General Council, I proposed to establish a gathering of Lebanese businessmen and women in the world, which today became the International Federation of Lebanese Businessmen and Women. It includes Lebanese businessmen and women all over the world. We have signed strategic agreements for cooperation in the five continents.
As for my academic relationship, I started this constructive experience in 2002, when I received my doctorate from the United States. My relationship with teaching students is a story of love, passion, and honor because in my opinion it is a message and ambition, and what society gave me back.
The truth is that I give the students experience and expertise, but in return, I gain from their confidence, vigor, and love, and these things give me the vitamins to complete a well-deserved career.
2 * Which economic experiences do businessmen and women have to adopt from abroad? Do you encourage them to establish small and medium projects that will move stagnant economies and create job opportunities and growth that will bring the desired benefit?
– Among the trips I took to the five continents, where I met with Lebanese expatriate businessmen and women, I was astonished by their courage and their pioneering and creative spirit, and all without exception, they left Lebanon for fear of the economic, social, political and security crises that we are experiencing at the present time. That everyone left Lebanon and owned nothing, and everyone started his career in expatriate countries from scratch and built empires in all fields, and in all countries. I am proud to say that these Lebanese have cultivated and planted the flag of Lebanon around the globe, planted the cedar tree and all its meaning behind it in terms of culture, history, resilience, and perseverance, and built a small Lebanon all over the world.
Today, I appeal to all Lebanese businessmen and women in the world not to forget their mother country, their land, and their origin, and to remain attached to their Lebanese identity, no matter the storms that strike their country today, and to continue helping their families as a priority so that they can face the largest economic crisis in the world since 1840. And then to continue in the major projects in their country, because Lebanon softens but does not give up and does not break, but I encourage them to invest within existing Lebanese companies and to merge and engage with these local entrepreneurs to develop their businesses and open up to new, growing markets through Lebanon.
3 * What did you gain from your participation in regional and international conferences and seminars, in addition to your presidency of the gathering of Lebanese businessmen and women in the world, and the balanced Francophone presence that enabled you to enter new economic worlds and openness to concepts unknown and not applied by Arab peoples, what did this brainstorm add to you? Economic?
– My extensive participation in all regional and international conferences, seminars and forums are for me to convey the voice of Lebanese businessmen in Lebanon and the world, to mention their resilience and successes, and stress their international reputation that they are among the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, and to demonstrate the speed of their adaptation in the days of growth as well as during the storms and difficult days.
As for my openness to the Francophone countries, it is a basis for me to remind that the Lebanese possess, in the depth of their culture, three languages: Arabic, French, and English, and this integration of languages and cultures open the way for them to soar in the five continents, and in all countries of the world, and to build economic and trade relations and exchange, with most of the inhabitants of the globe.
4 * Your evaluation of the decision to appoint you to officially join the strategic direction council of the Francophone University Agency in the world as a representative of the Middle East region? How do you reconcile your academic and economic knowledge with extensive knowledge of the corporate world and the economic and social environment surrounding you?
– I was honored to be appointed as a member of the Strategic Orientation Council of the Agency of the Francophone University in the World as a representative of the Middle East, and the goal was to build a bridge of communication between companies in the private sector and the Francophone universities in the region. On the one hand, it was a duty and a priority for universities to change their curricula to keep pace with economic changes in the region and the world. It was also a priority for companies to help universities with this mandatory change, especially attracting the most important human resources within universities, to train them, and to be a tool for development, excellence, and diversification.
5* To what extent does this agency, at the Francophone level, push universities to participate in the economic and social development of companies and encourage: digital education, entrepreneurship, graduate employment and continuous training of young talents? To what extent does Lebanon note these trends? How does this translate in terms of your care and application of its principles on the ground? Are you betting on the younger generation locally, regionally, and globally? Did you sense his ability to change? Is the correct investment in the future the one that affects resources, minds, and human capabilities?
– The world after “Covid-19” has changed 180 degrees, and it will change more in the coming years. The repercussions of this epidemic-pandemic are equivalent to third world war on the economic and social levels. Companies’ strengths have become incapable of having the capacity, and they have even turned into weaknesses. In fact, companies should turn to the younger generation in order to learn from them what it is like to face a crisis and adapt to the new changes. I believe today in constructive synergy, between the old generation due to their experience, knowledge, and wisdom, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the dynamism of the younger generation and their creative and pioneering ideas, their openness to the world, and digital transformation. Artificial Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence.
6 * Do you think that the current era is the time of economic restructuring in our world, in which the traditional economic model steps aside in front of the economy of knowledge, creativity, and experience? Has Lebanon joined this economic pillar?
There is no doubt that it is no longer an option for the internal restructuring of all companies, as well as economies to face the current changes. In other words, the traditional economy based on trade, industry, agriculture, and tourism is no longer sufficient for growth and to secure a decent and honorable standard of living. It has become a duty to shift to the knowledge economy, which is an economy of creativity, leadership, innovation, and renewal. In addition, the digital economy has become a cornerstone for development and growth. Resisting this change does not work, as the solution is to embrace and accept this change, with open arms and creative thought.
7 * When will the economic problems that burden the Lebanese citizen be resolved, away from the backstage and backstage politics?
The solution begins when we at least stop the collapse and stop digging in the dark, black trench. The solution begins when we agree on a strategy for cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, in the short, medium, and long term. We will start implementing it immediately, with good governance, full transparency, and careful follow-up. The solution begins when the exchange rate is unified, under one official platform, even if the exchange rate is floating, but away from the mafias of black hands.
8 * In an interview with you at the end of the year 2021, you said: “The year of humiliation has ended and the year of courage and change has begun.” Have you begun to see signs of change on the horizon? And how do you see the decline in the price of the dollar at the beginning of the year 2022? Your analysis of this phenomenon and your expectations for fixing the dollar exchange rate in the coming days.
– It is true, that the year 2021 was the year of humiliation and oppression for the Lebanese, as they were forced to obtain their human and self-evident rights such as gasoline, diesel, medicine, and hospitalization. The year 2022, is the year of benefits and elections par excellence, and we hope that it will be the year of courage and change. The time has come for all the Lebanese to run to the polls with huge numbers, which we have not seen before. The greatest weapon for change is through an increase in the turnout, because this steadfast majority may be the tool of change to build the new Lebanon on solid foundations.
9* Your pioneering initiatives to support the school and university students who have creative and innovative economic ideas in our society are considered a precedent. Tell us about it?
– I proudly believe that the main driver of a small economy like Lebanon lies in small and medium companies, especially micro-companies. These pioneering ideas create growth, restore confidence, and allow us to export not only our youth and our brains, but our creative, innovative, and constructive ideas, and our successes, and this will restore the economic cycle and confidence in ourselves as a priority, and then confidence in our economy is the cornerstone of rebuilding.
10 * You say in one of your lectures that the pillars of an individual’s economic success are: “Ambition, desire for change, and setting clear goals to achieve them while striving to overcome obstacles”? Did you personally find it easy to pave the way to success? Was this your magic recipe for him? And what do you say to those whose dreams and hopes are thwarted today?
In my humble opinion, if I were asked to describe success in one word, I would say and stress that the secret of success lies in perseverance. Perseverance means not giving up no matter how big the problems. And when we stand up again, empower our base, learn from our mistakes, double our experience, and always work according to a clear strategy and development plan in order to draw a line, we have to put two points, the first point is where we are realistically and honestly, and what we have is in our hands. The second point is where we want to go, which is the goal. As for connecting the two points, it is the plan and the strategy, and no matter how much it fluctuates up and down, the direction is the same, and the starting point and the goal will not change.
11 * Your motto in life? Your motto in the world of the economy? To which school / economic orientation does Dr. Zamkahel belong?
As I explained in the answer to the previous question, my motto in life is to persevere and not give up, especially not to be in my comfort zone, to learn and to take confident steps forward, even if some of them were shy, and not to be ashamed that I sometimes retreat tactically, In order to take more solid and steady steps than before. My motto is to always evolve and learn, to diversify my experiences and investments, and to have a team that trusts and trusts with me, in order to build synergy and integration that allows us to take bolder, stronger, and further steps.
12 * Who is Fouad Zamkahel, the human being apart from the president of the Lebanese Businessmen and Women Association Abroad, and the Dean of the College of Business Administration at the Jesuit University?
-Fouad Zamkahel is Lebanese, proud of his identity, origin, and land. Fouad Zamkahel is a husband of three children, and this is the sweetest thing that life has given me. Fouad Zamakhel is a faculty dean and academic, who derives his strength from the young generation, and from his messages to them, to give back to society everything he gave him.
