Since the last months of 2019, Lebanon's state of affairs has been plummeting downhill be it when it comes to politics, economics, or social matters. A lot of people are not able to support themselves financially. Banks have limited access to funds, especially when it comes to US dollars (USD), restricted transfers with no clear banking policy announcement, neither from the Association of Banks nor from the Central Bank. Industries are suffering as international wires and letters of credit are not being processed and therefore products cannot be imported, sales are declining and this is leading to massive lay-offs. The vicious cycle needs to be broken at some point and this is how the idea of Sa3ed was born.
Since the local currency, the Lebanese Pound (LBP), was not being controlled as much as the foreign currencies, the concept aims to simply channel funds in LBP to help people pay their rents, buy their medications, and other basic needs. This initiative will be teaming up with an NGO to keep the incoming and outgoing flows of funds transparent at all times and also with specialized volunteers to screen the cases and focus on the most urgent needs, according to capacities. The whole operation cannot see the light without a banking structure, which will be collecting the funds to be spent. It is to be noted that I will make sure to keep the banking institution that already seemed enthusiastic about my idea in the background at first, as banks are being currently portrayed by most protestors as public enemy number one. When the project has yielded some tangible results, the bank's name and assistance will be divulged and some sort of trust can be hopefully restored from the customers. Sa3ed will consequently assist people in need while promoting the local currency away from any shortage of foreign money and also ultimately benefiting the banking sector that is presently under attack.
I was positively surprised that everyone I asked for an opinion or even guidance has been willing to cooperate and provide services to make sure the project sees the light. Many points can be a concern, such as how do we circumvent the fact that our local currency is pegged to the dollar? How do we assess and provide aid? How will I run/manage such a large enterprise when I have a very demanding full-time job? These and other questions will be answered as we go. First things first: I have to create a map of the website structure that will not take too much time to be set up as we need to roll it out asap...
