I’m a tech founder who’s had to flee Lebanon. The conflict has spiraled at a terrifying rate, but the tech community is still pressing ahead.

I decided to leave Lebanon but feel guilty about leaving my team behind

Managing my team during this time has probably been the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my career. I don’t think any of us in the team expected things to escalate this quickly.

Our team has always worked remotely, some from refugee camps or poor towns, and we’re still functioning remotely now.

In a team call, one of our developers said her best friend was under the rubble with her family after an airstrike in Southern Lebanon. She was waiting to see if they were alive or not.

My eyes filled with tears, and I had no idea what to say.

I’ve been trying to maintain a strong sense of humanity, telling my team to take time off whenever they want, but everyone said, “No. we’ve got to keep working. We can’t let them win or stop our lives.”

I didn’t want to leave Lebanon and my team, but the UK government were urging British nationals to leave. My parents were also worried, they said if the UK sent an evacuation plane, I should get on it.

On October 2, I got on a chartered flight back to the UK.

The people of Lebanon are determined to keep living their lives

Now I’m back in the UK, I’m still checking the news every five minutes, but I can think more clearly and continue promoting the talent that exists in Lebanon.

I’ve been touching base with business leaders and activists and thinking about how to bring in more projects.

The whole company is working as hard as ever. We have plans in place for paying team members in the event that the banks shut down and have made sure everyone on the team has backup power sources.

I’ve had to make these kinds of plans since day one of being a CEO in Lebanon. The country has been struggling with electricity and banking for years, so I’m used to it.

I want to return to Lebanon as soon as it’s safe. I hope this conflict won’t affect Lebanon’s tech scene too much and that countries will continue to hire from Lebanon, and not be put off by the media.

One of our main developers has been asking for more work to have something to distract her. Those who have been displaced are now looking for new opportunities, and people who are still in their homes or have moved to safer areas want to keep working.

They’ve been forced to be resilient, and they want to move forward no matter what.

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