Those who claim that there is no Lebanese technocrat might want to take a good look at our successful people everywhere around the world. We know of those who are calling other countries their home because success runs away from oppression and corruption. It needs a healthy ground to grow and contribute.
Lebanon, with its decades of misgovernance (to say it politely), has not favored our so many capable people. We afford high education to our citizens to then lose them to other countries to enjoy the benefits.
If Lebanon was run by them, there would not have been a revolution. People would not be suffering, kids would not be on the streets, hospitals would not be refusing patients, gas stations would not need to go on strike, and on and on.
Today, we witness another one of these successful Lebanese abroad. Born in Lebanon, Hadi Zablit, a 49-year-old French-Lebanese engineer is one of these living examples, selected for his remarkable capabilities to lead a major global business group.
In 2018, Hadi Zablit took the position of Business Development Director for the Franco-Japanese alliance of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi. On November 30 of this year, he was selected to occupy the position of Secretary-General of the global group.
After the legal setbacks of Carlos Ghosn, another Lebanese is currently in charge of the breakthrough innovation of the Franco-Japanese automobile alliance that sold 10.6 million vehicles worldwide in 2017.
A graduate of the Ecole des Mines de Paris and Insead of the prestigious french Polytechnique (Paris), Zablit went to become in 1994 the Production Process Engineer and Product Manager at Renault.
He later moved to work as a Consultant and Senior partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he also occupied the role of co-director of the global innovation practice.
Back with Renault in 2017, he became the director of Bussiness Development of the alliance in 2018, and was also a member of the executive committee of the Renault Group.
Zablit will now be responsible for coordinating the new industrial cooperation projects with the objective of improving their operational efficiency and profitability.
#IAA19 | Hadi Zablit, @Alliance2022 Senior Vice President, Business Development: “The focus is to custom experience, to ensure the safety and the differentiation. Our objective within the @Alliance2022 is to combine all of these challenges.” pic.twitter.com/4ZTOoUi5sI
— Groupe Renault (@Groupe_Renault) September 11, 2019
There are two matters that come to mind: That powerful group knew they can rely on the Lebanese known efficiency and drive to succeed.
Whatever their controversial position today with Carlos Ghosn, the man did bring their company to the utmost success. Is it a coincidence that they chose another Lebanese to lead their European operation to profitability?
According to The Japan Times, in its article titled “Maybe Ghosn wasn’t so bad after all” (11 June 2019), “For all Ghosn’s flaws and delusions of grandeur, he did manage to balance the interests of two prickly Group of Seven economies in the highly sensitive auto sector […]. His successors will do well to last a fraction as long. […] CEO Hiroto Saikawa, is hardly covering himself in glory.”
We do, however, expect that Hadi Zablit will bring the French-Japanese Automotive Alliance to the “glory” they want back.
The second thought that comes to our mind is mostly a question: Why doesn’t Lebanon game up and invest in its own people to drive the country to efficiency and profitability?
There is no pride nor honor in a wealth amassed at the expense of the country’s and its people’s misery. There is neither honor in the seats of a government that leads the nation into suffering and poverty. The honor these days has been in the streets of Lebanon.
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