Lebanese Diaspora Creates Remote Jobs Platform to Tackle Unemployment Back Home

The Lebanese economy is currently spiraling in financial crisis, with sky-rocketing poverty and dire unemployment.The Lebanese Lira’s value has completely collapsed. Most recently, the situation has led to escalating violence as protestors have taken to the streets despite the coronavirus lockdown.

“The banks have failed and half the country, including my childhood friends and family members, is without work," San Fransisco-based Roy Baladi, CEO of new platform JobsForLebanon, said. "I was not particularly a gifted kid in school, and seeing much brighter, cultured, skilled, and educated people jobless made me feel guilty and angry.”

JobsForLebanon is now trying to capitalise on the nation’s massive diaspora to create an alternative economy to help plug the gap created by vanishing job opportunities. The online platform aims to use the 16 million Lebanese living abroad to provide opportunities from around the world to Lebanon’s highly-skilled, underemployed workforce.

In the first four days, the platform saw visits from 126 countries, 84 job postings, and 616 application submissions. Companies from all over the world, including Angola, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, France and the United States, posted vacancies including for producers, graphic designers, writers, developers, animators, social network specialists, math and piano teachers, accountants, and CFOs, according to Baladi.

Visit JobsForLebanon here.