After 6 months training at Cisco headquarter in the United States, the graduates come back to Lebanon to enter the professional market

January 15th 2008: 20 Lebanese graduates from the Cisco headquarters in the US made their way through the arrival gates of Beirut International Airport. After 6 months of professional training in the United States, the young graduates came back to Lebanon on December 17th with one mission: enter the professional market and benefit the country from the skills they have acquired throughout their heavily planned training in various departments at Cisco.

These interns aren’t the first beneficiaries of the Partnership for Lebanon’s workforce training program, but it adds another string of success to the long projects’ list. As a matter of fact, the Partnership for Lebanon has set an objective to train 125 young graduates and help them enter the professional market place in Lebanon. Until today, 75 interns underwent training at Cisco, who has also placed 25 interns at the Center for Development and Research in Lebanon (CDR).

The objective of this program is to convey the international business expertise of large multinationals like Cisco to the future business leaders of Lebanon, giving them the knowledge and training they’ll need to compete in a global marketplace. The ultimate goal is to plant the seeds of long term economic growth in Lebanon by giving Lebanon’s future leaders the tools they need to compete in a global market place and create thriving businesses. Therefore, training the youth to be leaders of the 21st century is a key element of that growth.

The success rate of the program, so far, has been, unquestionable. More than 95% of the interns have been placed in leading companies in Lebanon within one month after the completion of their training. Fighting the youth’s hopeless desire to leave the country and explore more beneficial horizons, the Partnership has developed the workforce-training program to limit brain migration, as much as possible.

One of the hopeful intern, Marwan Shamas, arrived home with a Cisco certificate, proof of his hard work and dedication to the company. He, like all others, is eager to give Lebanon their international experience, “I hope that this will give me a push in my professional life so I can give Lebanon what it needs. As for George, a hardware engineer, he’s eager to help Lebanon by inserting himself into the Lebanese workforce and successfully giving the country what it so desperately needs. In fact, many of the interns feel the duty to their country and strive to find good jobs in Lebanon, helping in setting a new course for the country’s future.

Business analyst assistant, Raghda Raad, enjoyed her six-month stay, exposed to the work ethic, the culture and just being away from home, “I feel I will now have more opportunities to find work in Lebanon.”

The Partnership is exploring ways to expand the program so to begin planting the seeds of a sustainable and prosperous Lebanese economy.