Pal-Think launches the radio programme «Ambassadors of Freedom & Entrepreneurship»

Pal-Think for Strategic Studies opened a new radio programme titled “Ambassadors of Freedom and Entrepreneurship”, broadcast on the local Zaman radio at noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, within the project “Empowering youth in entrepreneurship and small enterprises” funded by the Atlas Network — which aims to develop the capacities of young entrepreneurs and strengthen their access to the fundamentals of their own enterprises.

During the first episode, the three researchers — Mohammed Abu Farhana, Serene Abu Amra, and Israa Thabet — discussed their research paper titled “The administrative characteristics of small enterprises in the Gaza Strip”.

The researcher Israa Thabet said the training project's principal goal is to turn the entrepreneurial idea into a real small enterprise.

She explained that the concept of small enterprises varies from one state to another according to diverse criteria such as capital, workers, and technology, and mentioned that Palestine adopted assessing an enterprise's size by the number of workers, classifying them into five categories: micro, very small, small, medium, and large.

Thabet added: “The shortage of capital drives entrepreneurs to obtain loans from the banks, which impose strict conditions on them”, pointing out that 92% of the Palestinian economy rests on small enterprises.

She explained that importing products without oversight has threatened local enterprises in the Gaza Strip, and the local environment has become difficult for small enterprises because of the instability of political and economic conditions.

For his part, the researcher Mohammed Abu Farhana said the idea of the training project Pal-Think implements is unique in the Gaza Strip, because many young people have entrepreneurial ideas but do not know how to carry them out — so the intensive project, rich in new information and knowledge, came to fill this gap.

He explained that the administrative characteristics of small enterprises in Gaza are marked by the manager being the owner of the capital, and by their carrying high risk and limited production.

He affirmed that funding forms a great obstacle in Gaza for the scarcity of donor institutions.

For Abu Farhana, marketing is among the most important steps for a project's success, and 74% of small-enterprise owners suffer difficulties in marketing.

He continued: “There are no stimulating, real exemptions for small-enterprise owners in Gaza”.

To spread the culture of entrepreneurial work among the Strip's youth, the researcher holds that the universities should set multiple academic courses speaking of entrepreneurship.

As for the researcher Serene Abu Amra, she said: “The training with Pal-Think was practical in a scientific way, and we also learned to raise our voice as youth — for Pal-Think believes that youth are always capable of advancing society”.

She explained that there are administrative, financial, and marketing challenges facing start-up small enterprises in Gaza, and this requires strong coordination between the private sector and the government.

She added: “Some enterprise owners are forced to work away from the government's eyes to evade the exorbitant taxes”.

Abu Amra affirmed that the blockade is the greatest obstacle to small enterprises because of the ban on importing many raw materials.

She concluded by saying: “Intensive workshops on small enterprises must be held, and free advisory sessions for youth established”.

It is worth noting that this radio programme counts among the activities of the project “Empowering youth in entrepreneurship and small enterprises”, during which an intensive ten-day training programme was implemented, in addition to 15 meetings carried out by the trainees participating in the training programme, targeting youth of both sexes to raise their awareness on the topics of entrepreneurship and small enterprises. The project also includes the preparation of three research papers, prepared by the trainees, likewise discussing the topics of entrepreneurship, empowerment, and small enterprises — then presented within a radio programme.