LeBusiness — Lebanon Business News & Market Insights
ReFramed Runs From Lebanon, With Dubai Operations Next
ReFramed started in Lebanon at the end of 2023 with $1000 and a dream. Two founders under 18 shaped the Lebanese everyday wear market building one of the largest luxury streetwear brands in the country. A global expansion is next.
Lebanon's Banks Hold $100.42B in Assets as Resident Lending Falls Further
Lebanon's commercial banks closed July 2026 with $100.42 billion in consolidated assets, a 2.18% decline from a year earlier, according to data analyzed by BLOMInvest Bank. Deposits parked at Banque du Liban made up almost 75% of the total, while claims on resident customers fell to $4.1 billion. Capital accounts were the one major account to grow, rising 12.59% year on year to $5.4 billion.
Lebanon's Card Count Grew 0.8% While POS Terminals Jumped 22.6%
Banque du Liban data shows Lebanon ended June 2026 with 1,727,765 payment cards, a rise of 0.80% since December 2025. The headline number hides a sharp shift in the mix, with debit and charge cards growing while prepaid cards fell 16.60%. Point of sale terminals expanded far faster than cards, adding 5,053 units in six months.
Lebanon Caps Card Fees at 1.2% as Electronic Payments Climb
Lebanon is pushing to shrink its cash economy through central bank circulars, lower merchant commissions and card terminals inside government offices. Ministry of Economy figures show electronic payment shares more than doubling at restaurants and large supermarkets, with online payments now above half of transactions.
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Mastercard and neo by Bank Audi Partner on Free SME Banking
neo Business gives Lebanese companies a free account, a Mastercard business card and a POS device at no cost.
neo, the digital bank by Bank Audi, has announced a partnership with Mastercard behind neo Business, its package for small and medium companies in Lebanon. It includes a free account with a dedicated IBAN, a Mastercard business card, a POS device delivered at no cost, and no fees on payroll, collections and bill payments.
Tutorak Builds a Peer Tutoring and Advising Platform for LAU and AUB Students
The Beirut startup pairs students with peer tutors, advisors, and mentors across 30+ LAU courses.
Founder and managing partner Chris J. Armache started Tutorak with partners Marc Youssef and Abdul Nasser Halabi after finding it hard to locate course-specific tutors, and wanting a community where every student can get help and the ones teaching can build, grow, and lead. The platform now spans tutoring, academic advising, consulting prep, and a leadership program. It reports 20+ tutors and advisors and more than 100,000 Instagram profile views since launch.
Why I Built Lebanon's First Insurance Vehicle Auction House at 19
AA Group founder Georgio Antypas on replacing closed garage deals with open auctions for total-loss cars.
Georgio Antypas explains how AA Group brings the Copart model to Lebanon: insurers send damaged and salvage cars to its lots, buyers inspect them in person, place a deposit, and bid over two weeks. He argues the open auction gets insurers a better price and lets buyers skip importing unseen cars from abroad.
SouqMetrics Wants Ecommerce Teams to Catch Problems Before the Weekly Report
The AI-powered system reads store, ad and customer signals together and tells operators what changed and why.
SouqMetrics connects commerce, advertising, attribution, customer and profitability data into one intelligence layer that flags risks and points operators to where they should look next. One month after launch it is already working with brand teams including KStore, Pharma Tech's and DAYS Coffee, on EU-hosted, read-only infrastructure.
Alfa Adds 93 Network Sites, With 20 More Due Before the End of 2026
Half the new sites run on solar power, and Alfa says the full upgrade will reach 600,000 subscribers by mid-2027.
Alfa has deployed 47 sites in 2025 and 46 so far in 2026, covering Beirut and 23 districts. The new sites already carry 47 terabytes of data a day, about 7 percent of the network's daily internet traffic. Chairman and CEO Rafic El Haddad says the wider modernization project will be finished before the end of the second quarter of 2027.
BLC Bank launched nomad, a new digital banking app
BLC Bank's new app opens Fresh USD and LBP accounts, issues virtual and physical cards, and pays by QR.
BLC Bank has launched nomad, a mobile app that lets customers open Fresh USD and LBP digital accounts, request virtual and physical cards, and pay by scanning QR codes. The bank is introducing it through an outdoor teaser campaign running across Lebanon, built around QR codes and short, unexpected messages. Here is what the app actually does and how the sign-up works.
Jobs Most Affected by AI in 2026: What the Evidence Shows
Clerical work is shrinking, radiologists are thriving, and the real damage is being done at the hiring gate.
Ten years ago experts said AI would replace radiologists. Radiologist pay is up 48 percent since 2015. This piece separates AI exposure estimates from measured employment outcomes, using 2026 data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the ILO, the IMF and Stanford payroll records, and explains why the Arab world faces the risk through offshored service work rather than domestic adoption.
askLex Now Works Inside ChatGPT and Claude for Lebanese Legal Answers
askLex now answers inside ChatGPT and Claude, pulling from verified Lebanese law instead of a generic AI guess.
askLex, the AI legal app built for Lebanon, now works inside ChatGPT and Claude, with Gemini, Perplexity and Grok to follow. When users ask about Lebanese law in the AI app they already have open, the answer draws on verified law, procedure and court practice instead of a generic guess, and it is free. When askLex is not confident enough in an answer, it points the user to a lawyer instead.
Dubai Tech Salaries 2026
What developers, data scientists and CTOs are paid in Dubai right now, and what the money is worth.
Robert Walters puts a Dubai software engineer at AED 32,500 a month. GulfTalent says AED 7,000. This guide works through the 2025 and 2026 salary guides role by role and explains why the same job title carries five different numbers. It also covers what a Dubai salary is actually worth after tax rules, rent, school fees and the visa thresholds at AED 15,000 and AED 30,000.
Beirut to Brooklyn: Blank Street Now Worth $650 Million
Lebanese co-founder Issam Freiha started with one coffee cart in 2020. The chain just raised $105 million.
Blank Street, the small-format coffee chain co-founded by Lebanese entrepreneur Issam Freiha, closed a $105 million equity deal led by General Atlantic in August 2026 at a valuation of roughly $650 million. The company now operates 106 stores across the United States and the United Kingdom, six years after starting as a single cart in Brooklyn. Its first Los Angeles shop opened in August, with Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Malibu next.
MyMonty Launches Education Partnership Program and Platinum Card
The first credit card in Lebanon built for education payments aims to simplify tuition collection for schools
MyMonty has launched an Education Partnership Program that connects schools, universities and bookstores with families through a dedicated payment ecosystem. At its center is the MyMonty Education Platinum Credit Card, the first credit card in Lebanon developed specifically for education-related payments. Institutions get a more consistent collection process, while parents get a grace period and flexible repayment options.
Daribati Puts Lebanon's Tax Calculators, Forms and Filings in One App
Lebanon's first and only mobile tax application offers free calculators, downloadable forms and paid filing help.
Daribati is the first and only mobile tax application in Lebanon, letting users calculate salary tax, social security contributions and property tax for free, then download the forms they need to file. Founded in 2025 and based in Beirut, it also sells tax filing and helpdesk services handled over WhatsApp. The app runs in English and Arabic, and its co-founder, Elie, built it after seeing how few people could explain how their own taxes were calculated.
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Decision 13837 Replaces 25 Years of Lebanon's Exchange House Rules
Banque du Liban has scrapped six circulars and set new capital, ownership, compliance and hawala requirements.
Banque du Liban has issued Basic Decision No. 13837, a full rewrite of the rules for licensing and operating exchange institutions in Lebanon. It creates four licence categories with minimum capital from 10 billion to 100 billion Lebanese pounds, tightens ownership and compliance conditions, and brings hawala transfers and cross border cash shipping under one text. Institutions licensed before the decision have one year to comply.
A Cash Salary Pays Employees Today, But Can Limit Their Opportunities Tomorrow
Why salary domiciliation should be viewed as a gateway to financial identity, mobility and credit
Monty Finance CEO Noel Moukheiber argues that cash payroll leaves Lebanese employees without the financial record they need to rent a home, apply for a visa or qualify for credit. He makes the case for salary domiciliation through MyMonty as a way to build documented income history, and outlines what employers gain from moving payroll off cash.
Yahya Khaled and the Business of Restoring Rare Classics in Beirut
Yahya Khaled restores Porsches, Jaguars and Maseratis for Lebanese collectors from a base in the capital.
Lebanese restoration specialist Yahya Khaled works on rare vintage automobiles for private collectors in Beirut, including a 1972 Porsche 911T, a 1961 Jaguar E-Type, a 1961 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL and a 1982 Maserati Merak. The article looks at how classic car restoration works in Lebanon and why parts, sourcing and originality drive the value of each car.
Emirati capital moves early on Lebanon as non-oil trade reaches $4.2 billion
Emirati executives argue the time to enter Lebanon is before the recovery, not after it.
A UAE business delegation spent two days in Beirut for the Lebanese-Emirati Economic Forum, signing five memorandums of understanding and holding the first meeting of a new joint business council. Non-oil trade between the two countries reached $4.2 billion in 2025. Infrastructure and digitization were discussed but produced no agreements.
Roy Bou Nassif Built a Public Map for Lebanon's Broken Streets
Roy Bou Nassif's free civic platform now carries 74 citizen reports filed across 35 Lebanese towns.
Baladi Map is a free, non-partisan platform where anyone in Lebanon can report a pothole, a power cut, a waste pile or a water problem in under a minute, in Arabic, English or French. Founded in Beirut in 2026 by Roy Bou Nassif, it keeps every report publicly visible until it is fixed and scores municipalities on how they respond. Mobile apps for iOS and Android are now in review and testing.
Creator Summit Returns to Casino du Liban on September 11 and 12
The second edition runs September 11 and 12 at Casino du Liban.
Lebanon's Creator Summit expands to two days for its second edition, held at the Theatre Casino du Liban in Jounieh on September 11 and 12, 2026. TikTok LIVE is platform partner, with the Lebanese American University and Enmaeya also attached. Passes range from $25 for exhibition access to $500 for a capped Founders tier.
DoorEast Hit 43,000 Listings and 120 Agencies in Six Months
Michael and Maria Zoghzoghi launched their AI powered property marketplace in Lebanon in January 2026.
DoorEast is an AI powered real estate marketplace founded in Beirut by Michael and Maria Zoghzoghi. Since going live in January 2026 it has grown to more than 43,000 listings, partnered with 120 agencies and generated over 30,000 qualified leads. The company has also released a CRM for the agencies it works with.
Thirty Years of Pianos in Byblos: Inside Basbous & Sons
Pierre Basbous opened with three pianos in 1995. Today his Byblos house is Lebanon's only French-certified atelier.
Pierre Basbous was a touring pianist before he became a dealer, and in 1995 he opened Basbous & Sons in Byblos with three instruments and a refusal to sell anything cheap. The house now runs the largest piano showroom in Lebanon and the country's only French-certified restoration atelier. In 2026 it launched a free registry open to every piano in Lebanon.
