Lies Houmal before you a town in Mount Lebanon. It stands 400 meters above sea level. Houmal is 25 kilometers from Beirut. It is one of 70 towns in the Aley district. Houmal is a summer holiday spot. People also live here during the winter. The town is close to Lebanon’s capital.
In 1838, Eli Smith mentioned a place called Humal. It was located in Upper el-Ghurb.
Houmal borders Blaybel Bdadoun and Wadi Chahrour. Kahale and Kfarshima are also nearby.
Houmal has educational institutions. One is Bdadoun Public School. Selim Nouhra founded it in 1921. It later became a public school. Ecole Saint Elie is also here. Elias Tannous founded it in 1941. He gave the land to Saint Famille Maronite nuns.
Let’s talk about Houmal Technology Park. It could be an example of tech production. It shows fruitful entrepreneurialism. Tech companies can export independently. They don’t need to rely on the Lebanese entrepreneurship ecosystem. The state and municipal partners should compensate companies. This makes up for first-mover disadvantages. It helps create productive clusters.
Risks need to be overcome. These risks pertain to structural deficiencies. They exist in the legal and administrative infrastructure. Risks are also linked to recent changes. These changes are in the financial and economic environment.
Digital infrastructure is often overlooked. This infrastructure includes data centers. It is an easily overlooked growth industry. This is especially true when compared to blockchain-based banking. It is also true for the internet of everything. The same can be said for development hotspots. These range from health and virtual reality gaming to artificial intelligence.
A national data center in Lebanon seems utopian. Uncertainty has been added by the October protests. The PPP project has faced irrational political miscalculations.
Despite this, a new industrial campus exists. It is on a hilltop near Beirut. This is the Houmal Technology Park.
Fadi Daou is HTP’s mastermind. He is also the owner. He says a Lebanese enterprise can have innovative manufacturing. It can focus on export markets. Job creation could improve the economic and social fortunes of communities. HTP’s biggest struggle has been finding full institutional support.
Daou’s company, Multilane, makes equipment. This equipment is for data center infrastructure. The international market is worth $100 billion. The market has seen 25 percent annual growth. This growth is expected to continue. This is because of rising data volumes and transmission speeds. The IT realm still functions in line with Moore’s law. Processor speeds double every two years.
Daou has invested $15 million into HTP’s development. He wants to triple his workforce between 2020 and 2022. Multilane is in a leadership position in the 400 Gbit market.
Daou says all development is done in Lebanon. This includes conception realization testing qualification and support. Eventually they outsource go-to-market with their partners. Subassembly is done with contract manufacturers in China Malaysia and Taiwan. The final assembly programming and calibration is done here.
Daou expects to train many students per year. He expects the company headcount to grow. It should grow by at least 50 percent annually for the next three years.
Daou has encountered first-mover disadvantages. Delays impact the company negatively. Customers will not wait for them next time. They will use competitors. The company needs to remain competitive. This is not only on price value and performance. It is also on turn-around time.
HTP is not part of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. It is not part of the BDL-inseminated tech embryos. These are nurtured in BDD breeding boxes. The HTP campus feels like the founding cell of its own ecosystem.
Daou is facing uncharted territory and risk scenarios. He notes new risk potentials. These are rising in Lebanon’s economic framework. If the cash flow barrier becomes prohibitive they would need to change their operations model. They might have to function without operating out of Lebanon. Another risk is that they have employees in Germany the US and Taiwan. If they can no longer transfer money to them they would not be able to keep these offices open. They also might not be able to keep their customers satisfied.
Houmal stands as a testament to Lebanon’s potential. It is a blend of history summer respite and technological ambition.