Former Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn is launching a new business program to help with Lebanon’s economic recovery.
The program, called “Moving Forward,” will provide training to local businesses, give funding and advice to new ventures, and offer executive coaching to senior managers. CNN reports that it will also include a training center to teach workers how to use new technology.
Forbes brings news that the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, a private university north of Beirut, asked Ghosn to create programs to help rebuild Lebanese society back in January. Other business leaders will also take part in the program, including Land Rover and Jaguar chief executive Thierry Bollore and former Goldman Sachs vice chairman Ken Curtis. Bollore and Curtis have both agreed to teach courses for free.
Speaking about the program, Ghosn said, “This is about creating jobs, employment and entrepreneurs to allow society to take its role in the reconstruction of the country.”
Lebanon has been facing a number of political and economic challenges. The massive explosion at Beirut’s port in August, which killed more than 190 people, injured 6,000 and caused billions of dollars in damage, has made those challenges even more difficult.
Born in Brazil and raised in Lebanon, where he is a citizen, Ghosn escaped from house arrest in Tokyo and fled to Beirut in December 2019. He had been arrested in Japan in 2018, accused of trying to hide about 9.3 billion yen, or $88 million, that he made during his time at Renault-Nissan.
While there is an international arrest warrant for Ghosn, Lebanon does not have an extradition agreement with Japan, and the country does not extradite its citizens.
According to Forbes, Ghosn’s new program was announced on the same day a Nissan employee, Toshiaki Onuma, told a Tokyo court that he helped former Nissan executive Greg Kelly find ways to avoid disclosing how much Ghosn was being paid. If Kelly is found guilty, he could face 15 years in prison or fines of 80 million yen (about $760,000) — or both.
