Laetitia Saadeh, 31 years old, general manager of Jihad Saadeh Co, the company that sells new and used construction equipment. (Credit: Emily Carpenter/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Once the hydraulic excavator's articulated arm is firmly anchored in the ground, the machine lifts and begins to rotate around the arm. Thirty tons pivot thanks to the dexterity of Laetitia Saadeh, who is focused on repositioning the construction equipment amid dozens of others in a company parking lot in Antelias, north of Beirut. The maneuver requires precision and patience. In just a few minutes, the young Lebanese woman slides the excavator into its tight parking spot.Laetitia, 31, climbs down from the cab and sets foot on the ground. At that moment, she suddenly seems tiny next to the imposing tracks. CEO of Jihad Saadeh Co, the new and used construction equipment dealership founded by her father in 1986, she has known these machines since childhood.At age six, already behind the wheel"At six years old, my father had...
Once the hydraulic excavator's articulated arm is firmly anchored in the ground, the machine lifts and begins to rotate around the arm. Thirty tons pivot thanks to the dexterity of Laetitia Saadeh, who is focused on repositioning the construction equipment amid dozens of others in a company parking lot in Antelias, north of Beirut. The maneuver requires precision and patience. In just a few minutes, the young Lebanese woman slides the excavator into its tight parking spot.Laetitia, 31, climbs down from the cab and sets foot on the ground. At that moment, she suddenly seems tiny next to the imposing tracks. CEO of Jihad Saadeh Co, the new and used construction equipment dealership founded by her father in 1986, she has known these machines since childhood.At age six, already behind the wheel"At six years old, my father had...