DOHA: Young Palestinian entrepreneurs representing over 60 startup or early stage businesses took part in the ‘Build a Business Weekend’ as part of the Palestine StartUp Cup, organised by ConnectME and supported by Silatech.
The Cup is a six-month competition to help create sustainable businesses and strengthen the Palestinian entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Fairuz Taqieddin, Silatech Director of Country Operations, said, “The Cup provides a unique model that blends business model competitions, connection with local entrepreneurship support organisations, business incubation, and an emphasis on mentoring. We are proud to be supporting the Cup, and look forward to intensifying our operations in Palestine.”
The Cup is a global network of business model competitions in more than 45 countries around the world. The workshop took place in Ramallah, Palestine. Participants gained intensive training in business model design, value creation and targeted marketing, and “go-to-market” strategies that avoid the need for traditional fundraising.
The entrepreneurs spent considerable time with selected business mentors, with the overall goal of becoming familiar with universal steps required to start and build a viable business.
StartUp Cup co-founder Sean Griffin and Tanya Hiple, Senior Adviser for Women’s Entrepreneurship at the US State Department, led the workshop, along with Randa Masri, Founder and CEO of ConnectME.
This is the first year of Palestine StartUp Cup, which began in September 2013 with the submission of over 300 business models. From this group, the 60 most promising submissions were selected to take part in “Build a Business Weekend,” and from these 60 startup or early stage enterprises, 25 have been chosen to complete in the second phase of the StartUp Cup Competition.
The Peninsula
