ActionAid Palestine and its Partners to Organize Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprises Forum in Hebron
Within Yunus Social Business Festival
Hebron-West Bank -ActionAid Palestine (AAP) and its partner in the project of “Start Your Business” organized MSMEs & Entrepreneurship Event within Yunus Social Business Festival to motivate spirit of entrepreneurship among youth and change makers and support them to create positive impact in their communities and namely in the field of Businesses.
AAP implements “Start Your Business” project funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in partnership with International Voluntary Service for Development (VIS) which is an Italian NGO working in the economic development field, Bethlehem Business Incubator (BBI) and the Yunus Social Business Center (YSBC) and the International Committee for the Development of Peoples (CISP).
This event was attended by the Italian General Consul in Jerusalem, the director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in Jerusalem Office(AICS), the minster of Women Affairs, the mayor of Hebron, the general director of Hebron Chamber of Commerce, a number of representatives of relevant ministries, governmental and non-governmental organizations, private sector, investors, Business incubators and a number of representatives of civil and international organizations which works in the field of developing entrepreneurial enterprises and a number of entrepreneurs.
MSMEs & Entrepreneurship Forum within Yunus Social Business Festival aims at creating spaces for exchanging knowledge and success stories for youth and promoting 30 entrepreneurial enterprises from governorates of Hebron, Bethlehem and Jerusalem in different sectors. It also aimed to strengthen social responsibility with regard to entrepreneurship and small enterprises. This forum offered young entrepreneurs an opportunity for presenting and marketing their products through the wards that were created for this event.
The master of the ceremony was performed by Hanjara team for producing podcast which is an entrepreneurial enterprise. The event was started with the Palestinian national anthem and there were speeches delivered during this event. The country director of AAP, Ibrahim Ibraigheth delivered a welcoming speech where he highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship in supporting the Palestinian national economy and partnership with governmental and non-governmental and international organizations in supporting Palestinian entrepreneurs to help them to overcome unemployment and difficult challenges they face.
His excellency, Consul General of Italy in Jerusalem, Mr. Giuseppe Fedele expressed his happiness participation in this special activity saying: “this project supports young entrepreneurs. This is a great opportunity for them to develop their business and achieve success by presenting their products to many people”. He added: “I wish success to all participants in this project, and I hope that they can use this opportunity to proceed forward and develop their Business”.
The dean of Business administration faculty at Bethlehem University, (BU) Dr.Fadi Kattan highlighted the role of universities and namely the role of BU in this kind of activities saying: “ it is very important for universities to contribute to these projects and build partnership with private and public sectors to motivate young entrepreneurs so that they can improve their economic condition.Kattan also pointed to the fact that it is essential to think critically and work with partners local and private organizations, benefit from experiences of market and businessmen to create a new generation of businessmen in our country. Youth should utilize these opportunities as they enable them to translate ideas into projects. Bethlehem Business incubator plays an important role in decreasing unemployment rate and creating job opportunities for young entrepreneurs through these important programs”.
The minister of women affairs, Dr, Amal Hamad said: “the rate of women enrolled in high education reaches 60%, while the rate of women in labour market reaches 18%. The question here where is the problem, is there problem in education outcomes or in inputs of labor market, the creativity of youth? Is this the responsibility of civil society, public and private sectors or donors? How fund is spent, and which projects are targeted. She added: “in my opinion, all the parts including government, society are held responsible for the rate of unemployment that should be tackled to combat violence. We should also create projects for young entrepreneurs”.
The representative of Hebron municipality, Abed Al-Raheem Abu Hadeed said: “we in Hebron municipality believe in the principal pf partnership with all organizations that support youth. He stressed the fact the municipality supports youth and entrepreneurs”. He added: “Palestine does not have enough natural resources, while the secrete of our progress is the human resources which proves the efficiency of our entrepreneurs through our partnership with AAP and other organizations especially Italian organizations supporting the Palestinian organizations in Hebron”.
The director of the directorate of the ministry of labor in Hebron, Mohammad Shalaledah said: “we seek to achieve internal partnership with civil society organizations. We work with all organizations supporting employment projects aiming to decrease the rate of unemployment among graduates”.
After that, success stories of a number of young entrepreneurs were presented. There were also two round tables for discussion. The first table discussed “the role of the civil society organizations, governmental organizations and education sector in supporting entrepreneurship and social innovation”. This round table included the director of AICS Mr. Guglielmo Giordano, dean of Business Administration, project manager in VIS, Salvatore Guida , representative of CISP in Palestine, Ms. Chiara Rambaldi Guidasci and head of Programs in AAP, Amani Mustafa.
The second-round table discussed “social responsibility culture within Palestinian private sector and the role of Investment Sector in Entrepreneurial Development”. This table included director General (CEO) Hebron Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tareq J. Altamimi, Startups and MSEs incubation and development senior external expert – ActionAid Italia, Paola Perini, Head of IZDIHAR prosperity investment and Development Company,Mr. Rafiq Abu Munshar, and Head of Alfawaa Plastic Company,Mrs.Wafaa Aljunaidy. The forum was closed with a tour in the forum to introduce the entrepreneurial enterprises.
Background Information
ActionAid in Palestine (AAP) is a part of global federation working for social justice and gender equality and eradicate poverty in more than 45 countries around the world. AAP started its work in Palestine in 2007 to strengthen the resilience of Palestinian People as ActionAid believes that they should enjoy their rights to freedom, justice and self-determination. AAP implements a number of programs through its engagement with communities and women and youth groups seeking to empower them and enhance their influential civil and political participation to understand their rights and undertake collective activism to address the protracted rights violations resulting from the prolonged occupation of Palestine. AAP works simultaneously to enhance their leadership capacity and knowledge to practice their citizenship in holding authorities and other duty bearers to account.
For more information, please contact
Riham Jafari
Coordinator of Advocacy and Communication in Palestine
Mobile:
+972 (0) 595242890
Office:
+972 (0) (2) 22 13 137
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