>Opening the door to the future It was his final offer; his only offer. “I’m opening the door to the future; you have this chance to step inside,” he said. I was en route to an undesired PhD in urban planning and “he” had once been my professor. With time he became my friend and liberator. >Your Past will Shape your Future! I am traveling to the Gulf for Good this is all what we hear all around the place. Young men and women are seeking better job opportunities outside Lebanon due to many issues: political instability, economic down slope and even social pressures. This is my story too not different from anyone elses. >Women in ICT: a Businessman’s Perspective Fadi Daou, a Lebanese business man, founder and owner of “Multilane” company and general partner in ‘Building Blocks Fund” thrives to support and empower women in the ICT field. Mr. Daou has lived 26 years in the US where he had multiple startups. He later on exited and came back to Lebanon, where he started “multilane” Through his years of experience, Mr. Daou has become an avid believer in the active role of women in IT departments. In fact, he has hired several women engineers in his new company, and by his own admission says: ‘It’s working up very well.” >ICT: an enjoyable path By Raida Hafez "Never too late to start - I never specifically studied ICT in university. IT was an option I took in my last year as part of an Engineering Degree. The job market however brought me to this field. When I entered IBM France, my colleagues’ technical level was far better than mine, but that did not deter me neither scare me, and surprisingly enough, it did not alarm IBM either. >ICT My Window to the World ICT My Window to the World I went to study Electrical and Computer Engineering because I wanted to find out about the machine that was changing the world… In 1982, we knew very little about automation in Lebanon, and to me, this machine that I had never seen nor touched captured my curiosity. Since, I have never ceased to learn… In every job and in every project, I jumped the quantum leaps of technology… >A vision of a new generation by Raymonde Warde Julio sings: « VOUS LES FEMMES »??.. I AM A WOMAN… I do not demand... I wish I do not ask for a conflict in order to reach an egalitarian society. I do not ask to get rid of the guilt of the famous original sin carried on by all religions and used by the media (you know the stunt of the apple) ... >What is important is to learn and keep learning. My name is Tania Zaroubi. I come from a family who always believed that education paves the way to a better future. As a teenager, I was an average student until I started associating with a group of friends who wanted to be the first in their class. I did not want to be left out, so I studied harder than usual and that culminated in getting me on the honors list at the International College in 1976 in Experimental Science. I had always wanted to study Architecture at AUB, however the civil war broke out in Lebanon, and my family was forced to the country. As a result, I ended up studying Computer Science, which was in demand at the time and I believe it still is. >My experience in the Realm of ICT I am a Computer and Communication Engineer by education with a Master’s specialization in Data Communications, Networking and Distributed Systems from UCL, London University. I am a project manager and change agent by experience finding that my passion lies with people, processes, relationships and outcomes rather than products, procedures and outputs. I am a dedicated mother by nature and a social thinker by inquiry.