For young Lebanese professionals, success is often told as a story of departure. You graduate, gain experience, seize an opportunity abroad and begin a new chapter somewhere else. For many, that journey has been necessary, rewarding and completely understandable. There are many reasons to seek opportunities beyond Lebanon's borders.
My journey took a different course.
My academic foundation was formed at the American University of Beirut, where I earned a B.E. in Chemical Engineering and Advanced Energy. My engineering education shaped my analytical mindset and structured approach to problem-solving, teaching me to understand complex systems, challenge assumptions, identify inefficiencies and develop practical solutions. I later complemented that background with the Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst certification from Corporate Finance Institute before moving further into consulting, financial and commercial analysis, strategy and investment-related work.
This path led me to KPMG, where I gained exposure to the rigor and high standards of a Big Four environment while contributing to work spanning some of the Gulf's most dynamic markets. Saudi Arabia, in particular, became a significant part of my professional experience. Exposure to a market undergoing rapid economic transformation offered a valuable perspective on the scale of ambition and the discipline of execution.
Today, at 26, I work as a Senior Consultant at RYZE Advisory & Partners and as a Business Development Manager at ZRN Holding, with my work continuing to connect Lebanon to opportunities, stakeholders and projects across the wider MENA region.
Over the past few years, work has taken me repeatedly to Saudi Arabia and across the GCC. I have spent enough time in these markets to understand their professional pull, their scale and the opportunities they offer. There were moments when remaining abroad would have been a very natural next step.
Yet I kept coming back.
Not because my ambitions were limited to one country, nor because I underestimated the opportunities elsewhere. I simply realized that my career could be regional without requiring a permanent move away from home.
The Value of Regional Exposure
Working across the Gulf has been one of the most valuable parts of my professional development. Saudi Arabia, in particular, exposes you to a level of momentum that is difficult to ignore. Tourism, entertainment, hospitality, infrastructure, investment and technology are developing rapidly, supported by large-scale projects and a clear appetite for growth.
For a consultant, that kind of exposure teaches you a great deal. You learn how ambitious initiatives are structured. You understand how investors think. You see the importance of policy, capital, positioning and execution. You become more aware of the difference between having potential and creating the conditions that allow that potential to grow.
But working across the region also made me look at Lebanon differently. It did not make me believe less in the country. It made me more aware of what it already has.
Across Riyadh, Dubai, Doha and other major cities, Lebanese professionals are advising companies, managing investments, leading teams, developing projects and contributing to some of the region's most ambitious initiatives. That is important because it confirms something we already know: Lebanese talent competes extremely well beyond our borders.
The question is how to keep more of that capability connected to opportunities at home.
My own experience has shown me that the Lebanese market and a regional career do not have to be opposites. My work may involve Beirut one day and Riyadh the next. A relationship developed in one market can lead to an opportunity in another. Increasingly, careers in consulting, advisory and business development are not contained by a single geography.
Why I Stayed
The first reason is simple: Lebanon is home. It is where my family is, where I studied, where many of my closest relationships were formed and where the foundation of my professional life began. But I would not make a career decision based on emotion alone.
I stayed because I also saw professional value in being here. Lebanon has historically connected people, cultures, ideas and markets. In consulting, business development and advisory, being able to understand both the Lebanese context and the wider region can be a real advantage. I can be close to opportunities here while remaining actively engaged with the Gulf and other MENA markets.
I also stayed because I value seeing the results of the work firsthand. In larger economies, you can contribute to projects of extraordinary scale. In a smaller market, the effect of one initiative can sometimes be much more visible. Helping a company grow, developing a partnership, supporting an investment opportunity or contributing to a strategic project can have an effect that goes beyond the immediate assignment.
Another reason is more personal to the kind of professional I want to become. I did not want my relationship with Lebanon to consist only of saying that things should improve. I wanted to remain involved enough to contribute to that improvement.
That does not mean ignoring reality.
My generation has lived through economic collapse, political instability, institutional weakness and years of uncertainty. I do not want to turn resilience into a slogan or pretend that people should simply accept difficult circumstances because Lebanese society has learned how to adapt to them.
I stayed with a very clear understanding of those realities. For me, staying meant understanding the challenges clearly while still seeing enough professional and personal value to participate rather than disconnect completely.
What the Experience Has Taught Me
When I look at my career today, I do not separate what I learned in Lebanon from what I learned regionally. The two experiences have shaped each other. Working here has required adaptability: circumstances can change quickly, which teaches you to work across different industries and cultures, find alternatives when the obvious route is unavailable, remain comfortable with complexity and continue moving even when the environment is not perfectly predictable.
Those characteristics have been valuable to me everywhere I have worked. When I sit in a meeting related to Saudi Arabia or another regional market, I do not separate that experience from where my career began. I bring with me a way of thinking that was partly shaped by Lebanon, and that is something I am proud of.
Our Generation Should Have More Than Two Choices
For years, young Lebanese people have often been presented with two choices: remain and accept fewer opportunities, or leave in order to succeed. I do not think those are the only options anymore. Professionals in their twenties and thirties work across borders far more naturally than previous generations. Someone can be based in Beirut, work on a project in Riyadh, speak to a partner in Dubai and collaborate with a team somewhere else in the region within the same week.
That creates a third possibility: a career that is regional in reach without requiring a permanent break from Lebanon.
But for more young professionals to genuinely consider that option, staying has to make professional sense. Young people need credible employers, opportunities to progress based on merit, access to capital, serious projects, functioning infrastructure and an environment where ambition has room to develop. The decision to stay becomes far easier when people can see a future for themselves rather than simply being told they should believe in one.
Leaving should never be treated as a failure of loyalty either. Many Lebanese professionals abroad have created extraordinary careers and continue to contribute through investment, expertise, relationships and opportunities. Some left because they wanted to; others left because circumstances gave them very little choice.
So my argument is not that everyone should stay. It is that staying should once again become a credible option.
What I Hope for My Generation
I would like my generation to think about Lebanon differently. Not only as the country we inherited, but as the country we will eventually be responsible for shaping.
Regional exposure can connect Lebanese businesses with new markets, introduce knowledge from faster-growing economies, and open the door to partnerships that might not otherwise exist. That exchange works in both directions. The region has given me invaluable professional exposure. At the same time, my background here continues to influence how I work, communicate and approach opportunities elsewhere.
At 26, I know there is still far more for me to learn. There are markets I want to understand better, responsibilities I hope to take on and opportunities I have not yet encountered. I do not know exactly where every stage of that journey will take me.
What I do know is that Lebanon has already played an important role in shaping the professional I am today. My career has expanded across the region, but my connection to the country has remained.
And perhaps that is the message I would most like my generation to take from my experience. Lebanese professionals can work across the wider world, take opportunities wherever they arise, grow through them, and still maintain a meaningful connection to the place from which many of us began.
Lebanon has spent decades watching some of its greatest talent succeed elsewhere. I hope our generation also becomes known for something else: not only for how far we were able to go, but for what we chose to create, contribute, and leave behind at home.
RYZE Advisory & Partners
