Pal-Think airs the first episode of its «I Am an Entrepreneur» radio programme

The Pal-Think for Strategic Studies institution launched the first radio episodes of the programme “I am an entrepreneur”, in cooperation with Alwan radio, within the project “Strengthening the culture of tolerance and entrepreneurship in the Gaza Strip”, with the goal of confronting the problem of the spread of unemployment and the scarcity of opportunities in Gaza, with funding from the Atlas Network.

The first episode took up the concept of entrepreneurship and its role in economic development, through dialogue around a number of axes with the meeting's guests: the consultant in business development Samah al-Safadi and the founder of the Munasabat store project Dina Abu Shaaban, who opened the episode by reviewing the concept of entrepreneurship, which has imposed itself as a fundamental part of the process of economic development, especially during the past two decades at the world level, while it has imposed itself in the Gaza Strip as a solution for confronting unemployment and for economic development during the past six years in an effective way.

Al-Safadi added that the Gazan market had a particularity that played a role in its entrepreneurial projects departing from the world direction, which was confined to working within the information-technology sector, so that entrepreneurship in Gaza widened toward new and different sectors — pointing out that the high ceiling of challenges and the absence of a supportive work environment in Gaza pushed its entrepreneurs to search for external work markets internationally and in the Arab world.

From her side, Dina Abu Shaaban said that the successful entrepreneur must enjoy many qualities, among them insistence and the capacity to bear all the market's fluctuations, alongside possessing a creative sense that helps them keep pace and grow with the market's need — warning against being occupied with the search for funding and neglecting the development of the idea, which is considered the nerve of the entrepreneurial project, since it contributes to strengthening the project's self-sufficiency through keeping the permanent customers and beneficiaries.

Samah al-Safadi added that entrepreneurs must arm themselves with patience, especially in the first year of their projects' life, and not hasten to harvest money from them; rather the entrepreneur may head toward pumping additional money during this period to surpass “the valley of death” and guarantee the project's non-failure — stressing the importance of focusing on the idea and believing that it will create for the entrepreneur a source of income that spares them the search for funding sources.

Al-Safadi mentioned that through her observation of the Gazan market she noticed the young age of the entrepreneurs if we compare them with their peers around the world — and this matter has a negative side, since the young entrepreneur, whose age may not exceed twenty-one years, lacks experience and maturity; noting that the average age of entrepreneurs around the world reaches thirty-five years.

Abu Shaaban pointed out that the principal reason for the youth's heading toward entrepreneurship is the scarcity of opportunities and the absence of the alternative before the graduates, who fall into the snare of unemployment automatically after graduation, in addition to the existence of a fair number of successful entrepreneurial models around the world.

She added: “All the graduates, in their various specialisations, must search for what they need of information technology to create electronic spaces and platforms in which they present what they studied and what the market needs” — affirming that success in entrepreneurship is not possible without heading to technology in what serves the idea the graduate wishes to present.

At the episode's conclusion, the two guests urged everyone who possesses an entrepreneurial idea to move forward toward founding the project, with care to study the market's data and not to wait long, since the market is ever-changing — noting the importance of choosing the partners and the project's implementation plan consciously.

To listen to the episode:

https://www.facebook.com/dina.abushaaban/videos/10213520786395914/