Middle East & Africa | Extra-virgin territory

The global ambitions of Lebanon’s hard-pressed olive-oil makers

A tasty diversion from Lebanon’s crisis

Rise early, work late and strike olive oil
|BAASIR

IT BEGAN WITH a case of homesickness. Ibrahim El Kaakour missed his family’s olive groves in Baasir, so four years ago he gave up his engineering career abroad and returned to Lebanon. At the time farming was just a hobby for his family. But Mr Kaakour had a goal, to reinvigorate the groves—and Lebanon’s long-dormant olive-oil industry, which traces its roots all the way back to the Phoenicians. He launched Genco Olive Oil, named after Vito Corleone’s front company in “The Godfather”.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Extra-virgin territory”

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