09/16/2026
What if the real risk in conflict-affected communities isn’t the borrower but a financial system that was never designed for recovery?
After 14 years leading Vitas across Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan, Khalid Kabeer has seen what the numbers reveal: $3 billion disbursed, with remarkably low default rates even through instability and economic crisis.
Now, Syria is the next test. Limited access to formal finance leaves many small businesses without the capital they need to rebuild and grow.
Khalid’s message is simple: recovery needs more than aid. It needs accessible finance, stronger financial systems, and local capacity.
Because Syria’s recovery may come down to something very practical: can a shopkeeper in Aleppo access the working capital needed to rebuild?
This is the first piece in our expanding focus on economic recovery and resilience.
🧾 Read the full piece: https://lnkd.in/eCfD-ngn
Everyone assumes war zones are "unlendable." Khalid Kabeer ran the numbers across four of them. Fourteen years leading Vitas across Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan. $3 billion disbursed. And a finding that inverts how the humanitarian sector usually thinks about recovery: access to finance is a...