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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Gaza Tech Incubator Hopes To Encourage Entrepreneurship | |
| 2014-05-21 | |
[Ynet] Paleostinian Information and Technology Incubator, based in Gazoo City, helps small business by providing office space, advice, and financial support.
"When we thought of 'Buy from us', we took in consideration the slowing economy here in the occupied Paleostinian territory," Ishaq Alewady, 27, the founder of Golden Bird, a consulting company, told The Media Line. Golden Bird is housed at the Paleostinian Information and Technology Incubator, PICTI, in Gazoo City. PICTI is funded by several international organizations, including the US Agency for International Development, AID, and the British-based Oxfam. The idea is to provide office space and support to small companies to help get them off the ground. The Gazoo Strip, with about one-third of its 1.8 million residents living under the poverty line, and unemployment at 28 percent, seems a strange place for a technology incubator. There are growing shortages of certain goods since Egypt closed off hundreds of underground smuggling tunnels that brought goods, from cement to spare cars, into Gazoo. Electricity blackouts are frequent, and hundreds of small businesses have closed down, because of Israeli restrictions on export from Gazoo. But it is precisely here that PICTI is investing its energy, hoping that firms will use their services and then become independent. "We stayed here at PICTI for one year, and now we have our own small office in Gazoo City," Alewady of Golden Bird told The Media Line. "For our current initiative of 'Buy from us' we have an angel investor paying for the campaign, including the grand prize of a new Hyundai Accent car." The coupons encourage shoppers to spend more and stimulate Gazoo's economy. "Our investor for the initiative lives here in Gazoo and he is keen to help and promote our idea," Mohammad Alherbawi, one of Alewady's partners in Golden Bird told The Media Line. "The more coupons we sell to shopkeepers here, the more our chances for success are. We have carried out a deliberate advertising campaigning throughout Gazoo." Since 2008, the Paleostinian Information and Technology Incubator, PICTI, has been supporting and funding new creative technological ideas in the Gazoo Strip. PICTI's main branch is in the West Bank. At its office in Gazoo City, PICTI hosts a series of small technology companies. For example, one university professor hopes to make electricity using radio waves. "Last year, we funded 45 small initiatives like Golden Bird, each for an average of $5000, Abdallah Altahrwi, chief of programs with PICTI, told The Media Line. "This year, we are already funding 25 such projects. We plan to expand our office space, very soon, in order to host some other new programs." Seed funds for youth Fadi Alesawi, PICTI's director general, says the incubator offers help for recent university graduates and the unemployed in Gazoo. the Gazoo Strip. "We provide a seed fund along for creative youth and help them connect with other companies," Alwsawi said. "We never fund commercial businesses here -- we only support ideas that are unique and that could open up new horizons." He said the goal is not necessarily to bolster Gazoo's economy overall. It is more to help Gazoo's youth become entrepreneurs. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #7 High Tech orthopedic shoes with kevlar |
| Posted by: Frank G 2014-05-21 21:07 |
| #6 You mean beyond the Gaza Tunnel Export and Import Corporation? Just think of all the tariff money they are saving. |
| Posted by: Squinty 2014-05-21 18:53 |
| #5 Encourage Entrepreneurship You mean beyond the Gaza Tunnel Export and Import Corporation? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-05-21 18:16 |
| #4 "Gaza Tech Incubator Hopes To Encourage Entrepreneurship" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *gasp* *snort* *breathe* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Thanks - best laugh I've had all week. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2014-05-21 13:05 |
| #3 Hopes To Encourage Entrepreneurship Taking advantage of market opportunities I see cheaper, more easily disguised suicide vests.~ |
| Posted by: Squinty 2014-05-21 10:38 |
| #2 And the flaming-hoop. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-05-21 09:19 |
| #1 Palestinians are entrepreneurial---they invented modern Islamic terrorism. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-05-21 01:16 |