Pal-Think opens the «Empowering youth in entrepreneurship and small business» training

Pal-Think for Strategic Studies opened a training programme titled “Empowering youth in entrepreneurship and small enterprises”, funded by the Atlas Network. The training aims to empower youth in entrepreneurship and small enterprises through education, research, and the honing of entrepreneurial and leadership skills in 25 graduates and students of the Palestinian universities in the Gaza Strip: the participants will receive 10 training days focusing on the administrative and entrepreneurial skills youth need to build a small enterprise, and building the capacities of rising Palestinian youth for creative thinking in building their small enterprises in the future.

The director of Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, Mr Omar Shaban, opened the training by welcoming the trainees, pointing to the importance of learning about the concepts of entrepreneurship and communal entrepreneurship, for the real and effective effect that carries in creating work opportunities, curbing the growing unemployment rates, spreading the concepts of freedom, and building a Palestinian youth cadre able to create through designing and planning entrepreneurial ideas.

He said: “This training counts as fundamental to enabling you to prepare a plan for your own project through which you can create work opportunities for yourselves and go out to your communities with entrepreneurial ideas. Entrepreneurial youth can change many of the conditions we live, especially in the Gaza Strip”

The programme's trainers, Eng. Saeed al-Agha and Ms Samah al-Safadi, consultants in entrepreneurship and business development, affirmed the results expected from the training programme, which will extend over ten days. Through it the participants will learn the concept of entrepreneurship, the traits of the successful entrepreneur, the formulation of the project idea, acquaintance with the business model and the work plan, and other topics relating to how to obtain funding for the project and market it.

The training's first day took up a general assessment of the participants, the traits of the successful entrepreneur, the concept of entrepreneurship, the stages of its development, and the importance of the opportunity and obtaining it. The trainees were likewise divided into several groups and took part in collective activities to develop the spirit of teamwork and strengthen the spirit of cooperation among them.

Worth mentioning is that after the training's completion, the participants will be given the opportunity to carry out 15 community initiatives aimed at acquainting new participants with the skills gained during the training. In addition, a team of researchers will work to produce 3 research papers speaking of the challenges youth face in the labour market, the available opportunities, and how to establish a small enterprise. A group of experts will speak, during 5 radio episodes, of the opportunities and challenges in entrepreneurship in Palestine.