Lebanese trademarks (Franchises) prosper especially in Gulf and African countries

An Nahar newspaper published an article last Monday including an interview with the director of Hodema for consulting services, Naji Morkoss, about the franchise sector in Lebanon.  Morkoss noted that Lebanese franchises have started to be exported since the early nineties.  Their number aboard has now reached 50 trademarks which is relatively high for a small country.  According to Morkoss, exported franchises normally related to intermediate products which can easily compete with similar products in the host market.  Examples include restaurants such as Zaatar w Zeit, Leila, Margharita and Shawarmanji.  Morkoss added that Lebanese franchises are mostly exported to the Gulf countries in view of the increasing number of their malls.  The Gulf is followed by African countries because of it large relatively large population and the significant size of the Lebanese diaspora.  Most popular franchise relate to food such as restaurant Umm Shareef which is present in Jeddah and Dubai, Borj el Hammam which is now established in Jordan and Kuwait.

(Source: L’Orient le Jour 26 January, 2015)