My Husband and I left Lebanon 15 years ago with big hopes. We were aiming for a country that could fulfill our hopes and our dreams.
It is a big decision to leave your country; you leave a part of yourself behind – your family, your language, your friends, and your life since you will have to start a brand new life.
When we left Lebanon the situation wasn’t that good and there were not many opportunities for young people to start and build their future. I left Lebanon with big hopes and dreams. We Lebanese people always have BIG dreams to accomplish! After I worked for a couple of years at the Academy of the Sacred Heart as a French teacher, my husband Ghassan and I decided to start our own Internet business as a hobby. With the help of my husband, who is an engineer, I built our website little by little from our home’s basement.
During the summer break, I would stay glued to the computer for 10 hours at a time, building the website like you would raise a little baby. So much time and effort was spent that after few years I had to quit my teaching job since the business was starting to pick up and grow even stronger than expected.
A few years after building the website alone in the basement, we decided to move to our first office and small storage area of about 300 SM, and we hired our first two employees. I was pregnant with my third child when I asked my husband to quit his job at Toyota and join me, since I was positive that if he did so, the business would progress dramatically since Ghassan is a very successful engineer with lots of potential. It was a very critical time though.
The economy had just crashed and everyone was very surprised that Ghassan submitted his resignation letter in such uncertain times.
I think only Lebanese people would do such thing. The risk that you take in life and the trust in God cannot go wrong. Shortly after Ghassan joined in we moved to a bigger place of 800 SM, and after only two years we had to move again into a 1300SM space.
Within three years we had taken over a 3300 SM office where we manufacture ultrasonic systems and hired many more employees. In 2013, Sharpertek was honored by Oakland County’s L. Brooks Patterson for the great effort we have put into Engineering Technology and we were recognized along with 220 other companies for boosting Michigan’s local economy.
Sharpertek is now a top competitor in the ultrasonic field in the USA, competing with companies that have been in business for over 50 years.
My husband and I love Lebanon and we wish to retire there one day. Lebanon always amazes me; each village has its own natural beauty and unique character that we cherish. You can never get tired or bored when visiting Lebanon; this is what keeps us coming back.
