|
 Mr. Cyril Hadji-Thomas, a Lebanese-French engineer, chose to settle with a team of young developers in Berytech to develop his Lebanese startup, Amphipole. He shares his experience in doing business in Lebanon with us.
Ghada Moubarak: What are Amphipole’s activities?
Cyril Hadji-Thomas: Amphipole’s mission is to build up industrial or commercial projects for which technology and Internet in particular, would be the main element of value creation. In general, companies that contact us seek to develop their online activities or to sell a software developed internally to the whole of their market. These companies know their industry well but lack technological know-how. Instead of proposing counseling or technical implementation of a tool, we undertake a partial or complete management of the project until it meets its objectives and takes a cruising speed. What we propose is a turn-key operation just as some consultants can build up a turn key factory from scratch. As such, there were instances where we created enterprises from zero, dedicated to one project, while managing all key aspects: legal, financial, commercial, and marketing and of course technical. Although we charge development fees for some deliverables such as a web site development, our revenues mainly stem from a success fee, which is a sign of commitment and faith in the project but also a co-investment of our teams alongside the partners.
GM: Knowing that you were established in France, what drove you to come to Lebanon and launch your activity here?
CHT: In the beginning, we had planned to set up an office for our regional activities in Dubai to commercialize the information systems which we develop in the Levant. However, geographically speaking, Lebanon is more centrally located. Moreover, the presence of qualified universities creates a more favorable environment for innovation. Finally, the trilingual fluency of the human resources makes it a unique country in the Arab world. Despite political uncertainty and the lack of an efficient telecommunication infrastructure, Lebanon quickly became our command center.
GM: What are your markets? Who are your most important customers?
CHT: Our sectors of excellence are real estate, tourism, media, publishing and E-commerce in general. Our main clients and partners locally are Librairie Antoine and Levant Distributors. We also have many customers in Europe such as Lamy (Nexcity) and Urbania who are among the largest real estate service operators in France.
GM: What made you choose Berytech for establishing your operation in Lebanon?
CHT: We were looking for a location taking into account the technological nature of our activity on the one hand; on the other hand, it was also important for us to be in an environment that stimulates innovation. Berytech had all the right ingredients, in addition to the strategic support it provides for young companies such as ours.
GM: Do you wish to expand your markets and to go even further, towards North America for example?
CHT: We have just established an office in New York for the set up of our E-commerce activity related to books. North America is definitely one of the most promising markets for us. We are also working on projects specifically dedicated to the pan-Arab community, and for which our presence in Lebanon is an added value. Moreover Beirut has been chosen to be the ninth “World Book Capital” in 2009. We will sumibt some projects in this framework for next year.
GM: What would you say to young Lebanese, for whom this country is no longer an ideal place to start a business?
CHT: It is tough to plan in a country where stability is not guaranteed. However, the vitality of Lebanese companies and the quality of our engineers in particular, make Lebanon one of the most attractive countries on the mid term. Traveling abroad to work or to study is certainly a valuable experience, but you don’t always make the big time. I think that the majority of young people who emigrate underestimate the potential of Lebanon. Even if we cannot predict the outcome of the current political gridlock, Lebanon remains nevertheless, one of the very few countries I know of where you can have a good life.
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
; 01 612500 Ext: 5205 |
