Global Entrepreneurship Week Competition Yields Business Concepts
[Ramallah] — Palestinians participated for the first time this year in the world’s largest business innovation event, joining 140 countries in hosting Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), now in its sixth year, between November 18 and 24.
The initiative came from Palestine for a New Beginning (PNB), the Palestinian Territory chapter of Partners for a New Beginning, a program of the Aspen Institute that brings together a coalition of more than 12 partners from private and civil society organizations to support new innovative projects making use of current successful enterprises.
Lana Abu Hijleh, PNB vice chair, told The Media Line that the organization’s role is to raise awareness of the existence of Palestinian innovators and to help create a better environment for their success.
“We won’t do the role of lobbying, but as CEOs of companies and NGOs we have good relations with decision makers, and we hope we can encourage them to focus on the entrepreneurship process in Palestine,” Abu Hijleh said. She explained that much work and improvement can be done to support innovation through the educational system and the legal framework for new businesses.
Months of preparations led to the local chapter holding the GEW, during which time organizers discussed possible sessions, speakers and areas of focus, Abu Hijleh explained.
The Ramallah Open Coffee Club (ROCC) meeting was one of the events held during the week. It offers a regular informal setting for those who are part of the entrepreneurial community to meet, interact, network, and grow. According to participants, an important part of ROCC’s value is offering a platform that encourages interaction between people from diverse professional backgrounds.
Serine Sabi, a 24-year-old business graduate, agrees that much can be done for entrepreneurs. She founded her own company — Click and Pick, an e-commerce website where customers can book restaurant appointments and order food online in Ramallah — three years ago. She told The Media Line that e-commerce businesses faces unique challenges in the Palestinian Territory, including the banking system, the Palestinian economy, the occupation and the restrictions on money transfers, but that overcoming these obstacles is not impossible.
“In my opinion, this is what makes a person an entrepreneur,” she said.
Sabi’s company now includes five other partners and has evolved its services to include food, photography, training and consultations for the city’s restaurants. Sabi attributes much of her expertise to her visit to the United States as part of the GEW preparations.
“We learned about [GEW participants and] their business modules and how they solved their problems,” she explained.
Twenty-three GEW events were held across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with various companies and organizations participating. The sessions included new ideas to promote job seekers, better opportunities for freelancers, critical thinking for business people as well as meetings between the private sector and the entrepreneurs.
At “How to make a video C.V.,” one of the events held at the Sharek Youth Forum in Ramallah, young men and women learned how to transform the writing on their resumes into vibrant videos to market their skills – a way for young people trying to apply for jobs to distinguish themselves from other applicants.
“I aim to start my own company,” Suha Ghoseh, a 21-year-old fourth year business student at Bir Zeit University, said in the introduction to her one-minute video aimed at attracting the attention of potential employers or investors. In her video, Ghosheh talked about her courses, her skill set and her added value. She thinks the video resume has both pros and cons.
“It’s always good to have the employer see you as opposed to seeing data on paper,” she said. “But this is risky as well because of the business peoples’ tendency not to want to hire women wearing head-veils.”
In a room next to Ghosheh, Wa’el Bader recorded his video.
“It is very hard to reach the short-listed interviews because of the high numbers of applications,” Bader told The Media Line, hoping that this video will help in his quest for a job. “I will post, too, on social media, especially LinkedIn,” he said.
In a session hosted by the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), researcher Mohammed Hittawi said that a 2012 study showed that the early-stage entrepreneurial activity rate in Palestine is at 9.8 percent, which is relatively low considering that the Palestinian economy is driven by basic needs like education, healthcare and infrastructure.
Hittawi told The Media Line that the Palestinian Territory is one of the world’s worst places for female entrepreneurship. It was ranked 58 out of the 67 countries participating in the study.
Researcher Youssef Daoud explained that the “total entrepreneurial activity” (TEA) in the territories mostly consists of initiating investing activities, adding that the growth of new businesses is considered relatively low.
“A comparison of the entrepreneurial activity rates over time indicates deterioration at almost all levels from 2010. The TEA rate dropped to 9.8 percent in 2012 and the necessity/opportunity rate rose to 72 percent,” Daoud said, citing the lack of a political progress, the absence of a political stability and the lack of budget support as reasons for this decline.
The last day featured a national competition of entrepreneurs organized by PNB, called The Celebration of Innovation. The contest began back in August with an on-line application process followed by an initial screening, and then interviews to select the ten finalists. The five who were selected at the event by an international panel of judges consisting of executives of corporations based in the Middle East and North Africa to the ceo of Toronto-based Global Challenge Canada, will receive funding and coaching.
Among the winners’ projects are a small device to teach Braille; an e-based regional job site; and a way to teach programming and coding to children. A resident of the Gaza Strip where water is an issue created a solar-power-operated device that filtrates and desalinates non-drinkable water.
Rami Shomali, a software engineer who lives in Bethlehem, was awarded a $20,000 soft loan for developing an interactive mobile tourist guide. He told The Media Line, “Aside from the loan, I will receive a year of mentorship which will help me assess the market. My device will enable travelers to use current locations to find out what’s going on around them without the need for Internet.”
Shomali also learned the limitations of Palestinian entrepreneurialism. “I won’t be profitable in Palestine alone,” he explained. “My goal is to raise $100,000 and launch in Palestine within six- to seven-months and then expand to Jordan and Egypt.”
This year’s competition provided some hope for women entrepreneurs. Three out of ten finalists were women; as were two out of five winners.