Six years with USAID’s Trade and Investment Facilitation project
From 2020 to 2026 Nicolas Photiades and Dr. Ghassan Chammas served as senior expert consultants to the USAID Lebanon Trade and Investment Facilitation (TIF) project, implemented by DAI Global — selected and re-engaged year after year through one of the most rigorous vetting processes in international development.
- 6
- consecutive years as senior expert consultants, 2020–2026
- 19
- transaction-advisory studies with independent valuations
- 23
- monthly investment contextual reports
- 6
- concept notes for funds and financing facilities
Milestones
Every task order, study series and institution the programme produced, in order.
- Engagement
- Transaction advisory
- Research
- Institution built
- Concept note
- Nov 2020
Subcontract with DAI under USAID/TIF
Orion is engaged to support TIF Objective 2 — investment facilitation — with pipeline identification and transaction advisory for Lebanese companies.
Engagement - Dec 2020
Market-volume and ticket-size study
Estimation of transaction volumes across TIF sectors and the probability distribution of ticket sizes, as the basis for a master fund.
Concept note - 2021–2023
Transaction advisory, first round
Nine full studies — business plan, market analysis, financial reconstruction and independent valuation — for manufacturers in water bottling, kitchens and furniture, food processing and apparel.
Transaction advisory - 2021–2022
Solar energy for commercial and industrial users
Supply-side landscape of Lebanese solar providers and a full commercial and industrial solar assessment.
Research - Feb 2022 – May 2023
Investment Contextual Report, first series
Sixteen monthly issues on bank restructuring, capital controls, ratings, insurance, sovereign wealth funds, water and food security.
Research - Aug 2022
Factoring and reverse factoring facility
Task order to design and operate a factoring brokerage, connecting Lebanese exporters and importers with foreign factors and credit insurers.
Engagement - Oct 2022
Levant Trading Solutions SAL established
A factoring brokerage registered in Beirut to fill the gap left by an incapacitated banking sector; owned by the Orion partners.
Institution built - May 2023
First-loss guarantee for the factoring facility
Analysis of a first-loss guarantee as credit enhancement for the facility and its effect on food security.
Concept note - Aug 2023
Second transaction-advisory round and factoring phase 2
Two new task orders: a further round of company studies, and the second phase of the factoring facility — training, import mapping, pilot and outreach.
Engagement - Aug 2023 – Feb 2024
Investment Contextual Report, second series
Seven issues on privatisation, corporate bonds, the failure of the banking model, depositors and the Capital Markets Authority.
Research - Dec 2023
Pilot export-factoring transaction
First credit-insured factoring of a Lebanese food exporter’s receivables through Levant Trading Solutions.
Transaction advisory - 2023–2025
Transaction advisory, second round
Ten studies and valuations for manufacturers of plastic pipes and packaging, personal and household care, olive oil, traditional foods and electronic test equipment.
Transaction advisory - Aug 2024
Lebanese SME profiling and indicators compendium
Proposal for a data platform built from the programme’s company studies, for decision-making, monitoring and evaluation.
Concept note - Sep 2024
Programme findings presented to TIF
Findings from the transaction-advisory work: governance, succession and financial-policy gaps, and the transactions they unlock.
Research - Nov 2024
Trade-finance fund with Ellinas Finance
Memorandum of understanding to co-manage a Cyprus-domiciled fund dedicated to export factoring for Lebanese industry — the Lebanon Trade Finance Support Fund.
Institution built - Jan 2025
2025–2027 work programme proposed
Proposal for the next phase, including a management assessment and training programme for SMEs.
Engagement
What the company studies revealed
The transaction-advisory programme was more than a series of investor decks. It was the first full financial restructuring advice most of these companies had ever received.
Lebanese manufacturers share a common denominator: little financial flexibility and weak internal growth. Ownership has been diluted across third and fourth generations who disagree on strategy; financial policies are rudimentary; assets and franchises sit under-used, long pledged to banks that no longer lend. Many companies have reached the size at which they serve their owners rather than their growth.
Each study rebuilt the balance sheet and income statement, valued the company independently and identified the transaction that fits it — and in doing so opened a dialogue with investors that the banks had blocked for years.
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The independent, programme-endorsed valuation proved decisive. Direct negotiations between owners and investors had generally failed over price, with owners confusing book value with real value; a credible third-party valuation turned those conversations into transactions. The studies identified five families of transaction: capital increases for capital-intensive growth; long-term debt from international finance institutions, for whom the study doubled as a full credit analysis; working-capital debt alongside equity; outright sale or vertical and horizontal integration; and strategic partnerships with foreign distributors or brands willing to white-label Lebanese products. Some studies were accompanied by a corporate-governance charter.
The programme also showed what the next step must be: a management assessment and training programme covering internal structure, delegation, performance indicators, succession, digital market access and a fair salary scale — the proposal Orion submitted for 2025–2027.
Concept notes
Funds and facilities designed by Orion to replace the financing that Lebanese banks could no longer provide.
Master fund
Umbrella vehicle sized on TIF-sector transaction volumes and ticket distribution.
Recapitalisation fund
Private equity and working-capital fund to recapitalise viable Lebanese companies.
Factoring facility
Factoring and reverse factoring for exporters and raw-material importers, with credit insurance.
Solar energy for commercial and industrial users
Financing structure for rooftop and on-site solar in factories and businesses.
Solar energy for villages
Ownership and financing structure for village-scale solar plants paid per kWh consumed.
Energy fund for industry
National fund structure to finance the energy transition of Lebanese industry.
19 company studies and valuations
Each study rebuilt the company’s balance sheet and income statement, set out a business plan, valued the company independently and identified the transaction that fits: capital increase, long-term or working-capital debt, sale, strategic partnership or factoring. Company names remain confidential.
- Mineral water bottling: 2 studies
- Kitchens and wardrobes: 2 studies
- Furniture and wood crafts: 1 study
- Canned foods and Lebanese specialties: 2 studies
- Traditional foods and pickles: 2 studies
- Olive oil: 1 study
- Knitwear and apparel: 1 study
- Plastic pipes and fittings: 1 study
- Plastic packaging: 1 study
- Personal and household care: 1 study
- Electronic test equipment: 1 study
- Other manufacturing: 4 studies
Beyond the task orders
Reports written for the programme without remuneration.
- Proposal of assistance on IMF-related issues
- Objective 3 key regulatory reform proposal
- Mapping of Lebanese and diaspora investors
- Estimation of TIF-sector transaction market volume
The twenty-three monthly contextual reports are published in full.
Read the contextual reports