The Unlikely Well-Paying Job in Beirut
Last week, I slipped into a Careem car. For those of you residing outside the Middle East, Careem is the #1 ride-hailing app in MENA, Pakistan &
Turkey, with operations spanning 100 cities and 14 countries. I was first
exposed to Careem (which means "kind" or "generous" in Arabic) two years ago while in Amman, when I discovered it would cost
me a whopping 50 Jordanian dinars (US$ 70) if I booked a cab from my hotel at
the Dead Sea to Queen Alia International Airport versus a meager 20 JOD (US$ 28) via Careem. I even scored a rookie’s discount of 5 JOD, and that inaugural trip
paved the way for my incessant addiction to the transportation network company
here in Beirut.
A social creature by nature, I like to strike up
conversations with Careem captains. One unmistakable pattern I’ve noticed is that
many of them are well-educated, multilingual, and worldly. I kid you
not. On this particular trip, Fadi* opened up genuinely about his
profession.
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| I use the ride-hailing app Careem to get around Beirut and the 'burbs |
I asked how long he’d been driving with Careem. A couple of years ago, he was working as an accountant at a private firm, fetching a monthly income of around US$ 1,200. A graduate of finance, Fadi aspired to transition to a leading local bank, as the benefits—subsidized
education for employees’ children, health insurance, tenure—were irresistible. One
of the top three Alpha banks made him an offer of US$ 800 per month, which he was
willing to stomach, even though the pay cut was considerable. But the employer then
relegated the position to “contractual,” capping it at five years without the
possibility to evolve to a full-time role. Perplexed, Fadi turned it down.
He went out and rented a car for two weeks. He’d heard that
a savvy cab driver could command a decent income in the $3,000 to $4,000 range,
and he wanted to corroborate it himself. That he did, which puzzled him
entirely, because you wouldn’t expect a blue-collar job to land you
a fatter paycheck than a glamorous white-collar job at a bank.
Fadi and his wife, a biochemist, are both college graduates and
fluent in three languages. They’re raising a 9-month-old son with the help of a
live-in maid who doubles as a nanny. Fadi speaks passionately of Careem,
praising the company’s investment in its human capital and its generous
compensation scheme. Driving for both Careem and its competitor Uber, as many captains attest to doing, alongside a roster of private clients he's accumulated over the years, Fadi makes around US$ 4,000 per month,
subscribing to a 7- to 8-hour workday. Best part? There’s no one breathing down his
neck, micromanaging his every move.
He may not be putting his finance skills to
good use, but then again, what percent of graduates in this economy actually
captures a position in their respective domains? At the very least, Fadi is working for a company whose valuation is US$ 1.2 billion; he and his family are
insured; and he’s appreciated. That trifecta is a rare one in Lebanon,
particularly the appreciation bit.
Fadi and I navigated other weighty topics, like exorbitant
school tuitions, outlandish house prices, and the general cost of living in
Beirut. How do folks do it? No, really! How does a family put their two or
three kids through private school, when tuition alone can run up to US$ 5,000
per kid annually? Are people universally living in debt? Could there be any
other logical explanation when salaries are so slim?
And what’s society saying to students and graduates when
they find themselves either unemployable or worthy of nothing more than a US$
600 paycheck straight out of college? How many years before they’re promoted to
US$ 1,000? How about US$ 2,000? Will they ever be able to afford living in a
middle-class neighborhood whose average home price falls between $300,000 and
$400,000 for 175 square meters? What edge are university graduates really
getting with their degrees? Seems a B.S. is effectively BS.
In all honesty, I’m effusively proud that Careem is making
such a positive dent in people’s lives in Lebanon. While the rest of
the country bickers about brain drains and exported talent, doing nil to
tackle the ugly beast at its core, one company is hiring locals, training them,
and paying fairly and sustainably for their labor.
Thank you for being Careem. And thank you for being, Careem.
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| Backseat selfie |
This article was
neither commissioned nor endorsed by Careem. It reflects the sole view of the author. To download the app, use this link to unlock $3 in credit toward your first ride.
great post and i like the service of Careem
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