by Dana Halawi, Huang Hongsheng
BEIRUT, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- When Lebanon's financial crisis kicked in and forced the closure of enterprises in 2019 and onward, Rana Chemaitelly, a Lebanese franchiser and founder of an edutainment center, decided to look for opportunities overseas.
After a number of failed attempts at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, Rana finally gained a foothold in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh in June.
Rana sold her franchise's services to Saudi schools, which provide young people with hands-on learning activities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Rana customized the curriculum to meet local children's needs and tastes, a move that turned out to be popular with parents in Saudi Arabia.
"My clients are highly educated people who appreciate the services we offer to their children and are willing to pay for them," she said, adding "the market in Saudi Arabia is huge, and we can do a lot of businesses."
As her business expands, she was recommended to sell franchise services to other Saudi cities including Jeddah, Dhahran, and Dammam. Rana said she expected a turnover of 700,000 Saudi Riyals (186,600 U.S. dollars) by the end of this year in the kingdom.
Rana is one of the Lebanese entrepreneurs who are trying to tap the market potential of foreign countries amid Lebanon's lingering financial crisis, and some of them have proved to be quite successful.
Hallab 1881 Group, a Lebanese sweets company that has been operating since 1881, has already sold its franchise's services to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan and is now eyeing markets in France, the United States, and Australia, according to Raneem Hallab, the managing partner and director of business development of the company.
To ensure its success, Hallab 1881 opens shops in places with a strong presence of Lebanese or Arabs and target clients with above-average purchasing power, Hallab said.
With the aim of promoting the gastronomic diversity of Tripolitan culture, the company also customized its menus by introducing popular sweets to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to Hallab.
Yahya Kassaa, president of the Lebanese Franchise Association (LFA), said many Lebanese franchisers have registered their brands in the UAE, France and Cyprus in the past few years, and are finding good investors. Some businesses are now valued at around half a billion dollars.
Over the past 15 years, Lebanese have sold their franchises' services to over 40 countries worldwide through more than 2,000 points of sales, according to the LFA.
"I think the Lebanese expatriates have played an important role to make Lebanese brands successful, they live in a lot of places around the world and make efforts to promote awareness of Lebanese brands," said Kassaa.
Rana attributed Lebanese brands' success abroad to their business expertise, multilingual workforce, as well as high-quality products and services.
For Hallab, it is important to build reputation in Arab states and other foreign countries to ensure the success of Lebanese brands, notably in the food and beverage sector.
According to the LFA, franchising now contributes to approximately five percent of Lebanon's GDP.
The successful operation of Lebanese franchisers in overseas markets have facilitated the development of businesses at home. Some of the franchisers boost the Lebanese economy by bringing in much-needed foreign currency and creating jobs.
Lebanese franchises play a crucial role during the financial crisis as they help sustain local operations by bringing back dollars, said Nassib Ghobril, an economist and head of the economic research department at Lebanon's Byblos Bank.
