You almost never hear about Lebanese SMEs (small-to-medium enterprises). Yet they represent 97% of the total number of enterprises in Lebanon. They contributed to 70% of Lebanon’s production (though this figure dates back to 2012), they employ 51% of the workforce, and they are mainly family-run businesses.

The World Bank estimates that new micro-startups (the 1 to 4-year-old ones with less than 4 employees) created 60,000 jobs between 2005 and 2010, whereas new large enterprises (between 200 and 999 employees) only created 12,000 jobs during the same time. This figure is actually in line with the global trend: in any given country, SMEs are the backbones of the economy. The only problem is, the average lifespan of a Lebanese SME is of 5 years. And the fact that there is no official definition for SMEs in Lebanon makes it hard to develop policies for them: the Central Bank estimates that a SME is a company whose yearly revenue doesn’t exceed $5 million, while Kafalat defines it as any enterprise with less than 40 employees.

Source: USJ, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, World Bank