Original Article ISSN (Online): 2454-1907 International Journal of Engineering Technologies and Management Research November 2023 10(11), 1–14 How to cite this article (APA): El Annan, S. H., and Haidoura, H. M. (2023). Entrepreneurship as a Catalyst for Employment: Navigating the Unemployment Challenge in Lebanon’s Private Sector. International Journal of Engineering Technologies and Management Research, 10(11), 1-14. doi: 10.29121/ijetmr.v10.i11.2023.1376 1 ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A CATALYST FOR EMPLOYMENT: NAVIGATING THE UNEMPLOYMENT CHALLENGE IN LEBANON’S PRIVATE SECTOR Saher H. El-Annan 1 , Dr. Hani M. Haidoura 2 1 Professor, International American University, Lebanon 2 Central Ukrainian National Technical University, Kirovohrad – Ukraine, Lebanon ABSTRACT This study shows the importance of entrepreneurship as a countermeasure, notably in the private sector, against a backdrop of growing unemployment and institutional failures in Lebanon. The main goal is to validate the link empirically and intellectually between entrepreneurship and lower unemployment. The research relies on primary data acquired via an internet survey and employs a qualitative technique with an exploratory-descriptive design. This instrument, which included a variety of question types, gathered information from a broad group of 150 participants, including managers, entrepreneurs, and the jobless, who were chosen using convenience sampling. The study's key findings demonstrate that entrepreneurship reduces unemployment significantly. It indicates three essential results, in particular: entrepreneurship immediately reduces unemployment rates, it reduces individuals' turnover inclinations, thus stabilizing employment, and it promotes self-employment, further reducing unemployment pressures. These findings not only highlight entrepreneurship's complex impact on employment dynamics but also advocate for its potential as a strategic lever in alleviating Lebanon's unemployment crisis. Received 12 October 2023 Accepted 13 November 2023 Published 29 November 2023 Corresponding Author Saher H. El-Annan, saherelannan@gmail.com DOI 10.29121/ijetmr.v10.i11.2023.1376 Funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. With the license CC-BY, authors retain the copyright, allowing anyone to download, reuse, re-print, modify, distribute, and/or copy their contribution. The work must be properly attributed to its author. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Unemployment, Self-Employment, Turnover 1. INTRODUCTION Unemployment remains a key global issue, having a significant impact on societies and governments, particularly in modern times. This situation does not only indicate a lack of job prospects for active job seekers; it also includes retired people, homemakers, students, and those who are unable to work. Unemployment has far-reaching consequences, producing societal issues such as crime, homelessness, bad health, and economic insecurity, among others Hill (2018).