On November 26th, Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, held a press conference in the presence of Mrs. Marie Maamari representing Mr. Henri Castores, the French Embassy's Commerce Consultant, and Schneider Electric Eastmed's Country President Mr. Jean-Claude Nasr.

Mr. Nasr acquainted the audience with Schneider Electric's activities and achievements and the motives behind choosing Lebanon as its regional headquarters, further emphasizing the need for the ongoing Lebanese-French collaboration in the midst of the current geopolitical situation.

Throughout the event, Mr. Nasr introduced Schneider Electric as a multinational company that is specialized in developing technologies and energy management solutions in different sectors (buildings, industries, data centers and infrastructure) to deliver safe, reliable, efficient, productive and sustainable energy. The company also relies on a team of highly enthusiastic professionals with strong work ethics. Therefore, under the motto "Life is ON", Schneider Electric aims to provide connectivity and more sustainable distribution of energy.

Referring to the latest statistics, Mr. Nasr highlighted that energy consumption is on the rise due to urbanization, digitization and industrialization. It is projected that globally, by the year 2050, an increase of 2.5 billion people living in cities will occur, 50 billion devices will be connected by 2020 resulting in 50% global increase in energy consumption by 2050.

Therefore, in a highly connected world that is producing more, as well as consuming more, Mr. Nasr stressed that Schneider Electric strives to answer the global energy dilemma throughout sustainable energy management and automation solutions.

Innovation is also a fundamental priority for Schneider Electric, clarified Mr. Nasr. The company invests 5% of its annual sales turnover into research and development (R&D), further emphasizing the company's commitment to technological advancement.

All this is accomplished across offices in over 100 countries, and more than 200 factories and 170,000 employees worldwide, enabling the company to achieve an annual income of 25 billion Euros, tripling its size over the past 10 years. The East Mediterranean headquarter is based in Beirut, and oversees the company's activities in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Cyprus.

Reliable sources of power supply are also indispensable to the proper functioning of health care centers, banking sector, data centers, oil and gas fields, and industries.

Mr. Nasr further highlighted that while Schneider Electric is not responsible of producing energy, it contributes to its sustainability by enabling power saving through energy efficient management solutions, through installation of devices like UPS, automatic switchboards, and other solutions. The company also prides itself in providing job opportunities being keen on the wellbeing of its employees, by being committed to gender equity and encouraging towards working woman by being keen on their work-life balance.