Berliner Boersenzeitung - Lebanon power cuts turn cafes into co-working spaces

EUR -
AED 4.322575
AFN 82.197495
ALL 97.80785
AMD 452.381283
ANG 2.106083
AOA 1079.153493
ARS 1449.254646
AUD 1.795208
AWG 2.121237
AZN 1.999179
BAM 1.953601
BBD 2.375376
BDT 144.317586
BGN 1.953857
BHD 0.443614
BIF 3504.855659
BMD 1.176831
BND 1.498282
BOB 8.129678
BRL 6.375712
BSD 1.176451
BTN 100.404858
BWP 15.582464
BYN 3.849985
BYR 23065.879812
BZD 2.363141
CAD 1.599795
CDF 3395.156148
CHF 0.934509
CLF 0.028526
CLP 1094.664718
CNY 8.432463
CNH 8.429491
COP 4695.083372
CRC 594.118762
CUC 1.176831
CUP 31.186011
CVE 110.141048
CZK 24.65336
DJF 209.494237
DKK 7.461377
DOP 70.409266
DZD 152.742534
EGP 58.088289
ERN 17.652459
ETB 163.271487
FJD 2.633979
FKP 0.861996
GBP 0.862594
GEL 3.200821
GGP 0.861996
GHS 12.176039
GIP 0.861996
GMD 84.147021
GNF 10203.51703
GTQ 9.045628
GYD 246.135093
HKD 9.237808
HNL 30.737408
HRK 7.532772
HTG 154.462887
HUF 398.651024
IDR 19059.477709
ILS 3.941388
IMP 0.861996
INR 100.50488
IQD 1541.13288
IRR 49573.988951
ISK 142.396204
JEP 0.861996
JMD 187.778675
JOD 0.834377
JPY 169.923159
KES 152.023048
KGS 102.91373
KHR 4726.680625
KMF 491.915255
KPW 1059.104343
KRW 1604.502643
KWD 0.359216
KYD 0.980497
KZT 610.961279
LAK 25350.931688
LBP 105408.934233
LKR 352.972767
LRD 235.879532
LSL 20.69461
LTL 3.474875
LVL 0.711853
LYD 6.336869
MAD 10.559616
MDL 19.817277
MGA 5293.929785
MKD 61.479394
MMK 2470.934932
MNT 4222.9189
MOP 9.512295
MRU 46.693452
MUR 52.898873
MVR 18.123926
MWK 2040.121397
MXN 21.938888
MYR 4.967369
MZN 75.270255
NAD 20.694171
NGN 1800.656701
NIO 43.29128
NOK 11.845836
NPR 160.642801
NZD 1.941782
OMR 0.452512
PAB 1.176476
PEN 4.171705
PGK 4.859531
PHP 66.521505
PKR 333.968554
PLN 4.246605
PYG 9375.249993
QAR 4.299861
RON 5.057546
RSD 117.156996
RUB 92.645579
RWF 1691.196738
SAR 4.413821
SBD 9.811148
SCR 17.265453
SDG 706.68442
SEK 11.249547
SGD 1.499459
SHP 0.924804
SLE 26.419995
SLL 24677.553635
SOS 672.329083
SRD 43.760428
STD 24358.017464
SVC 10.294415
SYP 15301.186106
SZL 20.677675
THB 38.058374
TJS 11.441124
TMT 4.130675
TND 3.42767
TOP 2.756251
TRY 46.901762
TTD 7.978851
TWD 34.079793
TZS 3114.724639
UAH 49.064783
UGX 4220.161008
USD 1.176831
UYU 47.216862
UZS 14773.374143
VES 128.831762
VND 30797.068457
VUV 140.19772
WST 3.061791
XAF 655.21962
XAG 0.031889
XAU 0.000353
XCD 3.180444
XDR 0.815021
XOF 655.21962
XPF 119.331742
YER 284.969436
ZAR 20.746933
ZMK 10592.885829
ZMW 28.499322
ZWL 378.938974
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Lebanon power cuts turn cafes into co-working spaces
Lebanon power cuts turn cafes into co-working spaces

Lebanon power cuts turn cafes into co-working spaces

The music is often hushed and the atmosphere studious -- for the patrons filling Beirut's cafes these days, the most important things are good lighting and stable wi-fi.

Text size:

That's because they now serve as substitute workplaces for people grappling with drastic electricity shortages and internet cuts stemming from Lebanon's unrelenting economic crisis.

Aaliya's Books, in the heart of the capital's once-fabled nightlife spot of Gemmayzeh, is one such sanctuary.

"Most of the time, if I come here, it's because I don't have electricity at home," said Maria Bou Raphael, nestled on a sofa.

The power cuts, extending to 23 hours a day, have left many already deprived of an office by Covid restrictions with no option but to plant themselves in cafes all day, especially as the quality of many internet connections has also plummeted.

Generators -- the only way to keep devices charged and connected -- are too expensive for many Lebanese, as they grapple with an economic crisis that has seen the local currency lose more than 90 percent of its black market value in recent years.

Cafes are therefore among the few businesses to have largely bucked the wider meltdown driven by corruption, capital flight and would-be donors' reluctance to throw good money after bad.

Aaliya's Books manager Niamh Flemming Farrell said that on weekdays her establishment feels more like a co-working space, with some customers staying for a full day.

The sense of community created by the service that she provides to the neighbourhood is reviving a cafe culture that had faded in recent years.

Doubling up as a bookshop, the cafe takes its name from Aaliya Saleh, the central character in "An Unnecessary Woman", a novel by acclaimed Lebanese-American author Rabih Alameddine.

The narrative focuses on a 72-year-old who lives secluded in her Beirut flat, in the sole company of her books while the 1975-1990 civil war rages outside.

- 'Relaxed spot' -

"We noticed that... our customers started working additional hours in our branches, fancying the locations that provide a higher level of comfort," said a spokesman for Cafe Younes, a roastery with 10 coffee shops mostly in the capital.

Cafe Younes opened a new large branch in Beirut's central Hamra district a year ago that includes a multi-purpose study room with large desks each equipped with power sockets.

Barzakh is another multi-purpose cafe that opened recently on the first floor of a busy building on the Hamra thoroughfare.

Hamra used to epitomise a Beirut cafe culture that had its heyday in the 1960s but was gradually wiped out by bars conducive to more boisterous socialising.

"I can see people running and yelling (outside) but I'm sitting here quietly in a relaxed spot," said fashion design student Mustafa al-Sous said, sitting beside a large window.

The young man sees Barzakh as a haven from the doom and gloom that has been so pervasive across Lebanon in recent years, but also as a place where he can work.

Notebooks and laptops clogged the tables in this cafe, while tangled charger cables strewn across the floor threatened to trip waiters.

"Originally we wanted to ban laptops," Mansour Aziz, the founder of the cafe-cum-library, which also hosts live shows in the evenings, recalls with a disbelieving smile.

Many here, dragged out of their homes by the electricity crisis, now rely on the cafes for their social life, especially those who can no longer afford to party in the evenings.

At Barzakh, patrons will often greet each other with a nod from across the room and come to know each other gradually.

"I'm a very sociable person," Mustafa said. "I like it when people walk over to ask me what I'm working on."

(U.Gruber--BBZ)