Elissa Freiha is an Emirati of Lebanese and American descent. She is a passionate entrepreneur, investor, executive producer, and public speaker. Being also a women’s rights advocate, she crowned her mission by founding Womena, a Digital Media company that creates compelling female-focused content in the MENA region. As a prominent speaker on women’s involvement in entrepreneurship and active angel investor with over 30 investments between North America and MENA, Elissa has been frequently recognized in various media outlets, appearing on BBC’s 30under30, Forbes Middle East’s “50 Business Leaders Inspiring The UAE”, and Arabian Business’ “100 World’s Most Influential Arabs”, “100 Most Powerful Arab Women”, “100 Most Influential Arabs under 40”, “Entrepreneur of the year 2019” by One Young World, Forbes Middle East’s “100 Power Business Women 2020” as well as as being named one of the 10 people that will shape the region over the next decade by Esquire Magazine. Prior to co-founding WOMENA, Elissa has previously worked in marketing, sales, and events in entertainment and media. In terms of education, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Global Communications from the American University of Paris, the city in which she was born and raised.
Noora Saeed
Wisdom is not the same as knowledge; it is the practical use of knowledge.💫 It is necessary to help us view trials from the proper perspective so that we can see them as opportunities for us to mature and grow.
Dilemma in Cryptocurrencies’ – a potential financial future for Lebanon?
An Interview with Professor Nada Mallah Boustani Talking about Bitcoin is a bit emblematic these days when we hear the news about Sam Bankman-digital Fried’s asset empire who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, ending one of the wealthiest and most influential individuals in the cryptocurrency market and his wide range of prosperous enterprises, including exchanges and a major trading operation. This situation led consumers to withdraw their money when the price of FTT, the exchange’s native cryptocurrency, crashed this month (November 2022), causing an instant crisis at FTX. Cryptocurrency values decreased after hearing the news, with Bitcoin losing as much as 8% before gaining some ground. Ether decreased along with smaller token sizes. What can we say about crypto risks, usage, and evolution? What are cryptocurrencies in a nutshell? Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum and the blockchain technology that supports them are among the broadest topics of study regarding the development of the financial sector in the past period. Bitcoin arose out of a liberal project that began as a reaction to the role played by central banks after the global economic crisis in 2008. Cryptocurrencies are intended to be a decentralized and liberalized payment method. Where is cryptocurrency widely used? There are great differences between countries in terms of the general public’s adoption of these new currencies and their technologies. Nigeria is now one of the leading markets in the cryptocurrency world. Its economy is developing in a difficult economic climate, as it has faced a crisis of losing confidence in traditional forms of investment. Although the Central Bank of Nigeria asked banks to close accounts using cryptocurrency in last February, arguing that these financial transactions are illegal, this did not prevent the largest economy in Africa from being one of the largest virtual currency markets, with transactions exceeding 400 million USD last year. The second and third-highest rates of cryptocurrency use were also recorded in Thailand and the Philippines. About 15 virtual currency exchanges are licensed in the Philippines, and the Central Bank of the Philippines is overseeing a new regulatory framework to oversee this booming sector. In addition to Africa and Southeast Asia, Latin America is also an active region in dealing with cryptocurrencies. Argentina leads with an adoption rate of 21%, and Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Peru are between 12-15%. In Europe, Switzerland has the highest adoption rate of 13%, while cryptocurrency adoption is lower in Germany and France 5-6%. Who are the cryptocurrency users in the world? More than 100 million people are believed to own cryptocurrency worldwide, three times what it was two years ago. While it is difficult to locate these new crypto wallets, due to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, it is difficult to know the address of the transactions or the number of funds being exchanged. Although the largest cryptocurrency exchanges are located in the United States of America and China, Ukraine, Russia, and Venezuela are the countries whose residents use these electronic currencies. There is one element that unites these countries: the suffering of a political and/or economic crisis in the past years (Ukraine and Venezuela since 2013, and Russia since 2014). But one of the analyzes of online exchange traffic for these activities. It can be concluded that Ukraine, Russia, and Venezuela outperform the United States of America and China in the proportion of operations in terms of population and income level. However, the use of these cryptocurrencies for payment has so far been very limited, even if the COVID-19 pandemic has blown up non-material digital payments after they have proven their strength against this crisis. Also, the shares of these currencies attract the increasing demand for them through operations in the “blockchain” issued from a digital token. How is the growth of cryptocurrencies evolving? In early February 2021, Tesla’s president, Elon Musk, announced that his company had invested 1.5 billion USD in bitcoin. In the wake of this news, the most famous currency experienced a wave of unbridled demand, and its value rose from 39000 USD to 57000 USD within a few days, and it was a record number since this currency was put in circulation before it fell to about 47000 USD after a few days. These currencies, like any innovative method, follow a certain curve before they reach a degree of wide acceptance among the people. This is called the innovation adoption rate curve (Everett Rogers law). First, we find the innovators, then the early adopters follow, as they reach the peak of the adoption curve, then the curve slows down during a phase when the later majority adopts the new technology. Crypto investments have increased by 880% worldwide compared to last year. The reasons for this vary in different regions. In emerging countries, people mainly own cryptocurrencies to protect themselves from the devaluation of national currencies. As for the West, the demand for it is increasing after many large investors have shown their interest and tangible support, as their deals are large, sometimes exceeding 10 million USD per transaction. In July 2020, the volume of their investment amounted to about 1.4 billion USD, and it grew a year later to reach 46.3 billion USD. Europe has become the largest liquidity provider for the global cryptocurrency markets. Where is Lebanon located in the cryptocurrency world? Lebanon is no exception to the crypto-asset frenzy. Amid the financial crisis, the Lebanese are using cryptocurrencies to bypass banking restrictions, but they are mostly motivated to try to preserve the value of their savings, which is an adventure that is not without risks. Virtual currencies no longer attract only a small community of savvy people who share the libertarian philosophy behind their creation, or those motivated by the desire to be in the crypto world. Indeed, many Lebanese use cryptocurrencies to deal with and invest their remaining savings after the financial collapse that occurred in Lebanon, which led to the local currency losing more than 90% of its value against the US dollar, and banks imposing restrictions
NADA AL ANDARI
“Be confident, trust your skills and go for it ” This way of thinking will always help you take a step forward, despite all the difficulties that sometimes make you feel like you’ve lost the way. Nada Elias Al-Andari Al-Khoury is a poet and novelist always seeking the beauty of words. Her great passion for reading, the depth of feelings she discovered, her experience, and the influence of words, all made her career a great reflection of her persona. The poet is a Lebanese lady resident of Qatar, holding a BA in Arabic Literature from the Lebanese university, as she worked in the field of visual and written communication & media on different Lebanese television channels. She proved her capacities in this field after holding many positions, of which a reporter for the Presidential Republican palace, as well as her participation in covering Arab and international conferences. She has also worked as the Chief of the Correspondent Section, in addition to producing and presenting political programs as she hosted a large number of Politicians, media professionals, and people interested in public affairs. Nada Al-Andari produced and presented social programs, shedding the light on women’s role in society through their experience in all areas of professional life, in addition to training students specializing in media on how to write news and how to deliver, speak and pronounce correctly. This successful lady assumed the position of Deputy Editor-in-Chief of a Lebanese television channel, wrote a number of articles in various Arabic magazines, as well as revising and auditing articles before translating some of them from French into Arabic. After moving from Lebanon to Qatar, she practiced secondary school education in various Lebanese and international schools have also developed curricula to teach Arabic to non-native speakers, in addition to participation in international workshops on the development and development of students’ learning skills. She is a member of the Qatar Authors’ Forum and the Ministry of Culture. In some aspects, the Forum aims to raise the author’s cultural level, and disseminate the member’s output in books and journals to encourage good translation into world languages. Author Nada Al-Andari’s publications appeared in Arabic and international book fairs from 2016 until then. Her hobbies include writing and hearing music, and her love for words prompted her to publish a poetry collection titled “لا أبالي” which means “I Don’t Care” in 2016, and ” أغار ” which means “I get jealous” in 2020, as well as a novel entitled ” فسحة ضوء” which means “A Spotlight” in 2022 through which she translated the experience of living abroad and its impact on emigrants’ life. Nada Al-Andari is currently preparing to publish a new novel. She is also participating in many literary councils held in Doha within the framework of the cultural renaissance sponsored by the State of Qatar.