Empowering women entrepreneurs beyond Beirut

For many women entrepreneurs living outside Beirut, building a business means overcoming far more than the usual challenges of launching a startup. Limited access to finance, transportation and larger markets has made entrepreneurship especially difficult in rural communities, while years of economic crisis and conflict have only deepened those obstacles.

Against that backdrop, the Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB) celebrated the graduation of 45 entrepreneurs from North Lebanon, Chouf and the Bekaa who completed the "Empowering Women Entrepreneurs: Regional Capacity-building for Sustainable Startups in Lebanon" program, implemented with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). Through business training, mentorship and skills development, the initiative aims to help women launch and grow businesses outside Beirut.

The graduation also highlighted a wider challenge. Although women make up the majority of university graduates in Lebanon, only 25.6% of working-age women participate in the labor force, compared with 76.3% of men, according to the International Labour Organization. For LLWB President Abir Chebaro, expanding women's entrepreneurship extends well beyond creating businesses.

"When women are economically empowered, they're in a stronger position to make decisions, protect their children and contribute positively to their communities," she told The Beiruter.

Economic independence means dignity. It means freedom from violence and the ability to make choices independently.

Unlocking entrepreneurial potential

The businesses represented at the graduation ceremony varied widely. Some participants were developing food products rooted in local agriculture, while others were building businesses around cosmetics, handmade crafts and creative design. The entrepreneurs, who ranged in age from 25 to 55, also brought diverse educational and professional backgrounds, a mix organizers said was intentional.

Among them were sisters Doaa and Esnaa, who hope to build a cosmetics business drawing on their backgrounds in business administration and law. Christine and Nisrine traveled from the Bekaa, where they are developing a traditional mouneh business, while Mona Abou Ziki from Chouf has transformed her passion for three-dimensional artwork into a growing enterprise.

Participants described the program as providing practical guidance and greater confidence as they continue developing their businesses.

“The program gave us new ideas about marketing and helped us feel more confident about taking the next steps,” Christine said.

According to Chebaro, the organization deliberately focused on women living outside Beirut because entrepreneurial talent often exists where opportunities and support networks are the most limited.

Participants transformed locally grown herbs into textiles, gardens into flower businesses, and local agricultural products into commercial ventures, illustrating how entrepreneurship can emerge from existing community resources. According to Chebaro, those businesses demonstrate that innovation is not confined to Lebanon's largest cities.

"Our goal is to ensure these women never feel helpless," she said.

We want them to recognize their value and understand the contribution they make to the economy, whether they come from rural communities, different age groups or different educational backgrounds.

Building businesses beyond Beirut

While entrepreneurship has become an important source of income across Lebanon, women in rural communities often face additional barriers that entrepreneurs in larger cities are less likely to encounter. Distance from major markets, limited transportation options and fewer professional networks can make it more difficult to grow a business, even when demand exists.

Dr. Lara Macaron, a business consultant, university professor and trainer involved in the program, said those realities shaped both the design of the initiative and the training participants received.

“Women face many challenges in Lebanon,” she told The Beiruter.

Many have learned to solve problems through experience and intuition, but sometimes they need the right tools or someone to reassure them they're on the right path.

Macaron said many participants come from agricultural communities where women's economic contributions often go unrecognized. As migration and economic pressures have left farmland abandoned, some entrepreneurs have begun turning local products such as mouneh, herbs and processed foods into businesses that generate household income.

Entrepreneurship as empowerment

For LLWB, however, the program was never solely about launching businesses. It was also designed as a response to challenges that intensified after Lebanon's latest conflict.

Chebaro said the organization returned to communities where it had previously worked to conduct a new needs assessment after the war disrupted livelihoods, displaced families and made it substantially more difficult for many women to sustain existing businesses.

“War amplifies existing inequalities,” she said.

The impact of war and displacement is different for women. Violence increases, and poverty increases. War is not gender neutral.

That assessment is supported by UN Women's December 2025 guidance note, Addressing Care in Times of Conflict and Crisis, which found that armed conflict and displacement increase women's unpaid care responsibilities while limiting access to employment, markets and livelihoods, making it more difficult for women to participate in post-conflict recovery.

Many of the women who participated in the program had lost access to customers, financing or assets that could previously have been used as collateral to secure loans. Others found transportation routes disrupted or local markets severely constrained.

Rather than allowing those setbacks to derail participants' businesses, LLWB redesigned the program to help women rebuild their livelihoods and regain economic independence. Chebaro argued that economic empowerment has broader social consequences. Women with stable livelihoods, she said, are better positioned to support their families, make independent decisions and reduce vulnerability to violence and extremism.

Supporting businesses beyond graduation

Organizers emphasized that the graduation ceremony marked the completion of one stage rather than the end of participants' entrepreneurial journeys.

Former LLWB President Asma Zein said the organization intends to continue supporting graduates as they build their businesses.

"One of LLWB's major responsibilities is following up with these women after the project ends," she told The Beiruter. "We want to make sure they truly benefited from the program and that their businesses continue to grow sustainably."

Macaron said entrepreneurship requires continuous learning rather than a single training program.

“Women have to continue investing in themselves,” she said.

“They need to continue developing their skills and strengthening their businesses. Economic independence is the result of building a successful business.”

Rather than ending with graduation, the program was designed to provide a foundation for long-term business growth. As Lebanon continues to navigate economic uncertainty, the challenge is ensuring entrepreneurial talent is not limited by geography. For the graduates, the challenge now is turning those lessons into sustainable businesses.