With 25 young men and women, Pal-Think holds the lecture «An introduction to entrepreneurship»

Pal-Think for Strategic Studies organised a lecture titled “An introduction to entrepreneurship”, with the attendance of 25 of the university students and graduates in the Gaza Strip of both sexes and various specialisations. This lecture comes in the frame of “Strengthening tolerance and entrepreneurship” — a project Pal-Think launched in cooperation with the Atlas Network, a non-profit organisation based in the United States of America — as this project aims at strengthening the culture of tolerance, entrepreneurship, and free work among the youth in the Gaza Strip.

In his welcoming word, Mr Omar Shaban, director of Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, introduced Pal-Think and the scope of its work, and noted that Pal-Think is a non-profit organisation adopting an independent ideology, aiming at improving the Palestinians' life — and among the clear examples of that is the tolerance and entrepreneurship project, whose fundamental goal is represented in strengthening the culture of entrepreneurship in the Gaza Strip, and thereby limiting the violence resulting from unemployment and the difficult economic conditions.

The lecture was delivered by the entrepreneurship and development consultant Ms Samah al-Safadi, who discussed with the participants the concept of entrepreneurship, the causes lying behind the appearance of this world direction in the field of business, as well as its positives and negatives, in addition to business incubators and their role in supporting entrepreneurs and start-up companies.

Al-Safadi likewise acquainted the participants with the business incubators in Gaza and the services they present to entrepreneurs, and made clear that although we must be proud of what the Gazan entrepreneurs have achieved so far, Gaza is still extremely behind in the field of entrepreneurship: despite the efforts expended in this respect, the deteriorating economic conditions stand as a fundamental obstacle in the way of its development, besides the tense political situations.

The twenty-five participants, who were chosen after filling an electronic application via the institution's website, showed a striking interest in the lecture. Although some of them are still students, and others study subjects far from the field of business, they were all keen to learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurship; and considering the current economic situation in Gaza, they believe that starting their own projects may be the way to defeat the unemployment rampant in the Strip.

For the past few years Gaza has been witnessing unemployment rates that are the worst ever, especially among the youth, among whom the unemployment rate has reached more than half — which has contributed to the escalation of the wave of internal violence in the Strip. In return, entrepreneurship has appeared as one of the ways of rescue: instead of searching for a job, Gaza's youth have begun thinking of founding their own projects, which in their turn will create job opportunities for them and for others. But the entrepreneurship sector is still crawling in the Strip, and many political and economic difficulties stand in the way of its development.