In Lebanon, where the dual crises of the Covid-19 pandemic and a financial meltdown are taking a toll on people's daily lives, mental well-being start-up Siira is looking to provide emotional support by organising group discussions led by experts.
Beirut-based Siira offers weekly online meetings, moderated by certified therapists or psychologists, on various themes including parenting, relationships, family dynamics and work. People are invited to discuss their problems in a “safe and private" setting.
The idea is to minimise stigma around mental health issues, alleviate isolation by bringing people facing shared struggles together and tackling problems at an early stage through a preventive approach, Siira founder Sandra Salame says.
“The idea is not to replace therapy but to increase awareness, educate yourself emotionally so that at least you can detect if you have an issue, change behaviour early on and maybe you realise you need therapy or realise you are not alone in going through this,” she says.
“By saying the problem out loud, you’ve already started your treatment … the sessions are very humbling to hear people speak up.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has cast a spotlight on mental health tech start-ups globally, as disruptions to daily life and work, coupled with lockdown measures, triggered and accentuated stress.
Global funding for mental health tech start-ups reached $5.5 billion in 2021, more than doubling from $2.3bn in 2020, the “State Of Digital Health 2021" report by market intelligence firm CB Insights showed. The majority of deals — 68 per cent — were in early-stage start-ups, indicating room for further growth in the sector.
The pandemic, a Beirut port blast in 2020 that devastated large parts of the capital, along with Lebanon's economic collapse, have led to frequent power cuts and inflation skyrocketing to 155 per cent in 2021, which pushed 80 per cent of the population to below the poverty line.
Unsurprisingly all of this has taken a heavy toll on people's mental health. Scant insurance coverage for psychiatric treatment as well as the lack of cheap and accessible support services has exacerbated the situation further for those in need of help.
“The exodus of doctors, the crisis of services and the medication shortages add to long-standing challenges such as stigma,” Joseph El Khoury, president of the Lebanese Psychiatric Society, said in a tweet last December.
There are fewer than 100 psychiatrists registered in Lebanon, a 2021 survey by the Lebanese Psychiatric Society showed. Among those practising and training in the country, the majority — 94 per cent — believe the state of mental health care in Lebanon is worse than before the pandemic, the survey found.
Many psychiatrists are leaving Lebanon because of instability, low income, few career opportunities or better clinical experiences abroad, according to the study.
Siira, which began operations in January 2022, has seen demand increase for its mental well-being services.
“People are thirsty for getting together and talking and knowing they’re not alone in their struggles,” Ms Salame says.
“It's an outlet for people to deal with these stressors that are affecting all aspects of life. The economic crisis will affect your mood, health, the way you function or live your life — there’s a lot of uncertainty and that comes up in the sessions.”
Ms Salame, a tech executive, was inspired to start the initiative after confronting her own “personal crisis” two years ago and seeking out therapy.
Expensive treatment, a scarcity of qualified therapists in the region and difficulty in verifying practitioners' credentials led her to start Siira.
“It was an eye-opening experience,” she says. “The shame and stigma are so high that you think you're alone in this but everybody struggles with life issues and not a lot of people talk about it — you're supposed to look like you have it together all the time.”
As part of the group sessions, Siira organises discussions and workshops on topics such as dealing with parental guilt, student problems, art therapy and support for teachers. It also provides educational content co-created and validated by mental health experts, Ms Salame says.
Target clients are Arabic-speakers aged between 18 and 50 who have access to social media and Zoom.
Electricity cuts and patchy internet connectivity can make it difficult for some to join the support meetings.
“It's heartbreaking when people cancel because the infrastructure is overstretched,” Ms Salame says. “We repeat sessions but we never record them and this makes people comfortable because it's private.”
Users can join Zoom meetings by audio, video or chat, with attendance capped at 15 people to create a sense of trust, she says.
We're inviting people not to go on their life journey alone, let's be together in each of our life journeys and to go on a journey inwards
Sandra Salame,
founder of Siira
Still in the pilot stage, Siira's business model will offer users subscription to the platform on a yearly, monthly or pay-per-event basis. It will also focus on the B2B market, where businesses can offer the service to their employees and customers, sponsor the workshops or pay for advertisements within the educational content.
The initiative is backed by social enterprise C3's Idea (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access) accelerator through a programme that offers entrepreneurs advice from business experts, access to a network of investors and exposure at Expo 2020.
Session prices will be set as low as $5 per month so as to “democratise” access to mental health services, says Ms Salame. Corporate rates will differ depending on the negotiations.
“The pandemic, like all stressors, is an accelerator: if we feel bad, we feel worse. So, it has shed light on our need for connection. We’re becoming a very individualistic society, people are living in silos, with no time to connect and create this social fabric,” Ms Salame says. “This is a way to draw people together, even if they are strangers. You feel you're not alone and recreate this community concept.”
Ms Salame's next priority is to monetise the initiative and she is seeking investors, grants and funds to finance her plans, including the launch of a mobile app.
The start-up aims to serve at least 2,000 customers by the end of 2022 in markets within Lebanon, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, she says.
“Siira”, loosely translated from Arabic, means “life journey” and aims to help people build healthier relationships and overcome personal crises, Ms Salame said.
“We're inviting people not to go on their life journey alone, let's be together in each of our life journeys and to go on a journey inward,” she adds.
Company Profile
Name: Siira
Founder: Sandra Salame
Founding date: January 2022
Based in: Lebanon
Sector: HealthTech
Size: 12 collaborators
Investment stage: Seeking investors
Investors: Self-funded
Q&A with Siira founder Sandra Salame:
1. What is your next big dream?
To make Siira the go-to platform for people who want to connect, learn and network with others and discuss their mental well-being, relationships and emotional life.
2. What new skills have you learnt in the process of launching your start-up?
The importance of building the right team who will make this dream a reality and a solid supporting ecosystem; accepting failure and seeing it as an opportunity to transform rather than an obstacle; and gearing up to ask the right questions and being open to divergent views.
3. How has the Covid-19 pandemic and Lebanon's economic crisis affected your business?
Both crises have affected internal and external aspects of our initiative. On the internal front, our resilience as a team increased in that we continue to offer our services despite all the hardships and instability. On the external front, we witnessed an increase in the demand for our services. During tough times, people seek connection, they want to share their struggles and look for guidance to navigate this crisis with the least damage possible. Just by having meaningful conversations or listening to others, people can start to heal.
4. How important are mental well-being services during the pandemic?
The pandemic, like all stressors, is an accelerator. It pushes us to question our choices and to reflect on our issues, wants and dreams. It can worsen our already precarious mental state or it can liberate us. In all cases, stressors instigate change and shove the fragility of life in our face. Having the right support system, awareness and taking care of our mental health becomes of essence during these stressful times.
5. Where do you see your business in five years?
A sustainable, impactful and continuously innovating business. Hopefully, Siira will keep reminding us to harness the power of the collective for a better quality of life.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
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Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
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UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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This month, Dubai Medical College launched the Middle East’s first master's programme in addiction science.
Together with the Erada Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation, the college offers a two-year master’s course as well as a one-year diploma in the same subject.
The move was announced earlier this year and is part of a new drive to combat drug abuse and increase the region’s capacity for treating drug addiction.
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What's in the deal?
Agreement aims to boost trade by £25.5bn a year in the long run, compared with a total of £42.6bn in 2024
India will slash levies on medical devices, machinery, cosmetics, soft drinks and lamb.
India will also cut automotive tariffs to 10% under a quota from over 100% currently.
Indian employees in the UK will receive three years exemption from social security payments
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2. England - 265 points
3. Pakistan - 261 points
4. South Africa - 253 points
5. Australia - 251 points
6. New Zealand - 250 points
7. West Indies - 240 points
8. Bangladesh - 233 points
9. Sri Lanka - 230 points
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Results
5pm: Wadi Nagab – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m; Winner: Al Falaq, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
5.30pm: Wadi Sidr – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Majalis, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: AF Fakhama, Fernando Jara, Mohamed Daggash
6.30pm: Wadi Shees – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Mutaqadim, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 – Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Bahar Muscat, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm: Wadi Tayyibah – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Poster Paint, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
Federer's 19 grand slam titles
Australian Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Marat Safin; 2006 bt Marcos Baghdatis; 2007 bt Fernando Gonzalez; 2010 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Rafael Nadal
French Open (1 title) - 2009 bt Robin Soderling
Wimbledon (8 titles) - 2003 bt Mark Philippoussis; 2004 bt Andy Roddick; 2005 bt Andy Roddick; 2006 bt Rafael Nadal; 2007 bt Rafael Nadal; 2009 bt Andy Roddick; 2012 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Marin Cilic
US Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Lleyton Hewitt; 2005 bt Andre Agassi; 2006 bt Andy Roddick; 2007 bt Novak Djokovic; 2008 bt Andy Murray
