A Tribute to Edmond Moutran

We lost a Lebanese media icon this week. Edmond (Eddie) Moutran’s (1944-2021) story is worth being told (an inspiring interview with Ricardo Karam in Arabic is accessible on YouTube). Coming from a humble beginning in Moussaitbeh in Beirut, he opened up to the world. Eddie started a small company in 1984 with just one office in Bahrain, one client, four people, and $13,000. By 2021, Memac-Ogilvy has become a media giant, an award-winning integrated creative network, “a regional powerhouse in a global network, a top 5 agency group in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. 15 offices covering over 17 markets in the GCC, Levant and North Africa region, serving over 150 international, regional and local brands, and managed by over 900 local and international talents.”

In 2010, we had the privilege to listen to Edmond Moutran at the Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut (AUB) sharing his words of wisdom in a keynote address during the Global Entrepreneurship Week: “Entrepreneurship is an attitude as much as it is results; I promise you from my side luck has nothing to do with it. If you want to succeed it’s very simple. Hard work, hard work, hard work. We’re not talking about the normal hard work. We’re talking about the sixteen hours a day, every day! Smelling the dust every second!”

On a personal note, I did not know Eddie closely, but it was so good to have had the privilege to meet him. My father, several years older, knew him early on, years before Eddie went to the US. Later on, my father’s firm became an external auditor to Memac in its early years, giving him further opportunity to know Eddie at a professional level. What I know for sure is that my father had a deep respect for Eddie, was impressed by his success, and often spoke fondly of his perseverance and work ethic. When my father visited him in Memac’s office in Sin El Fil, they used to revive stories of youth; people outside the office would often hear sincere laughs from behind the door.

Eddie had a life full of passion and benevolence. It is so sad to see him go, but what comforts is that he left an unmistakable legacy, lots of memories, and lots of stories. His words at AUB still ring: “Whatever you do in life, if you are an entrepreneur, for God’s sake do something!” In his memory, the Memac Ogilvy team wrote, “Lucky are those who heard him sing Frank Sinatra’s My Way “I’ve lived a life that’s full… I did it, I did it my way!” Indeed. Farewell, Eddie.