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Podcast with Nayla: A Declaration of Love to Lebanon

"Abundance is not in what we receive, but in what we give."

After a career in asset management spanning more than four decades - from New York and London to Geneva - Philippe Jabre returned to Lebanon with a clear focus: to reinvest in the country's people. In a recent interview on Podcast With Nayla, he shared the motivations behind his return and the philosophy that drives his ongoing commitment to the nation.

Far from a simple philanthropic endeavour, his actions amount to a true declaration of love to Lebanon, structured around three fundamental pillars: education, the local economy, and cultural heritage.

Education: Empowering the Next Generation

For 27 years, the Philippe Jabre Association has treated education as the cornerstone of social stability and justice. Across that time, more than 3,400 university students have been supported, some two to three hundred each year, with perfect gender parity and across every community.

Yet this commitment extends far beyond financial assistance. Philippe Jabre follows each year's students individually - answering every one of them himself, taking an interest in their path, drawing them out. Because helping one person, he notes, means helping the fifty behind them: family, friends, an entire circle. Support becomes a structure, and it snowballs: those who were helped go on to help others in turn.

What strikes him most is that this small country produces minds found nowhere else, talents who go on to reach the world's greatest universities. The system gave them the means to rise, but the talent was always there.

The Local Economy: Protecting Jobs and Legacies

A thriving nation requires a functioning economy. Philippe Jabre's decision to take over and revitalise Almaza, the historic family brewery, founded by his own family and brought back under its control after decades, was driven by this conviction: to protect a national legacy, keep local industry alive, and create immediate employment.

Around ten permanent positions and some forty young people taken on as a springboard make the initiative a direct investment in the country's economic resilience - and give young graduates a concrete reason to stay and build their careers in Lebanon.

Art and Heritage: Preserving Cultural Memory

To rise above daily geopolitical struggles, it helps to remember what Lebanon truly represents. Early in his career, Philippe Jabre began collecting works by local artists - many lost to theft during the war. On his curator's suggestion, he turned to foreign artists who had depicted Lebanon, drawn as much by their emotional resonance as by their value as memory.

For him, the purpose is to give the country a different image: a place of culture that cannot be reduced to its geopolitics, a way to transcend both the everyday and the passage of time. The collection stands as a reminder that Lebanon's history and beauty reach far beyond its periods of conflict - a quiet, symbolic relaunch of the idea of Lebanon itself.

A Message for the Future

Turning to today's youth and a world reshaped by artificial intelligence, Philippe Jabre's advice runs against easy formulas. AI, he argues, is to be embraced rather than endured - a tool to master, not a threat to fear. Above all, he places critical thinking first: stay curious, read between the lines, refuse to settle into a single track. Seen this way, even large language models become an opportunity, they sharpen the questioning mind rather than dull it. The rest is patience, openness, and a readiness for the unexpected.

Through these three pillars, the goal remains constant: to empower individuals, steady the present, and build a brighter tomorrow for Lebanon.