Palestine Gets Its First Startup Accelerator
Building a startup in Palestine is admittedly
tough. At the launch event for Palestine’s newest accelerator, a
discussion broke out about the need for basic internet laws that
would make online payments possible.
Sabri Saidam, the mustachioed advisor to the Palestinian president
on telecommunications and information technology, pointed to
glaring contradictions in the governing body’s approach. “The
Palestinian legislative council was using video conferencing in the
90s to discuss law creation, yet they didn't consider technology
laws important to debate or discuss,” Nedal Zahran, the Team Leader
at Leaders
Organization recalls him saying.
The current Minister of Telecom, Safa Nasser Eddin, is “on our
side,” says Zahran, but the Palestinian National Authority simply
“doesn’t see internet laws as strategic right now. They view the
internet as a luxury. You have to remember that most of the
people in charge are around 70 years old,” he adds.
In an environment with a labyrinthine legal framework, the mantra
of the startup sector, as it is in many countries throughout the
Arab world, is “build anyway.” The mantra could describe Saed
Nashef, who navigated antiquated laws to create Palestine’s first
tech-focused early stage venture capital fund, Sadara Ventures (one
of the most
active VCs this year). Sadara’s first investment, hotel booking
site
Yamsafer, is now perhaps Palestine’s biggest startup hope,
alongside veteran success story Souktel,
an SMS platform that has expanded throughout Africa (also now a
Sadara portfolio company), and expanding medical
portal WebTeb.
The Terms
Zahran and his colleagues at Leaders Organization are now
continuing to bring Palestine the seed stage investment it sorely
needs by setting up Fast Forward, the West Bank’s
first accelerator and seed capital fund.
Palestine already has several incubators, including Leaders
Organization, which typically mentors larger B2B ventures, PICTI
(the Palestine Information and Communication Technology Incubator)
which has run programs with Mercy Corps to unite startup teams, and
Gaza’s
Business Technology Incubator, which recently ramped back
up after a lull.
Fast Forward will the be the area's first fully-fledged
accelerator, however, offering a six month bootcamp and $20,000 in
seed investment in exchange for a 7-10% stake in accepted startups.
Startups will focus on product development for the first three
months and go to market during the second half, as the standard
three month timeframe was deemed a bit short in this challenging
market.
Its launch comes as no surprise in a region where accelerators are
spreading like wildfire and a new
cycle graduation or
angel pitching session occurs every month. Yet the project was
stalled until Welfare Association, a Switzerland-based nonprofit,
came on board to provide funding. Now, it's taking applications for
the first round until February 28th.
Sourcing Mentors
Its potential for success will likely rest upon its ability to help
startups reach outside Palestine. In a market as limited as the
West Bank, going regional or global immediately is an essential
part of reaching profitability, hence the historical focus
on outsourcing
companies.
To optimize its mentorship, Fast Forward has sourced mentors from
within Palestine and is also looking to connect with an
international network of mentors soon. Other communities the
accelerator will likely connect to include grassroots techie
community Peeks and
Hi-Tech Hub, Palestine’s newest tech talk series, which
leverages the diaspora to bring local entrepreneurs Silicon Valley
expertise.
It will be interesting to see what kind of entrepreneurs apply to
the first Fast Forward class- Zahran expects to see ideas in
e-commerce, travel, and enterprise solutions. The startup sector
has been somewhat quiet, but momentum is building slowly,
especially as innovative startups like
Iris demonstrate the potential of a visionary product to
sell internationally.
The accelerator is hoping to see women apply as well. It might not
match BTI in Gaza, which claims that over
half of its startups are run by women, but, says Zahran, “I
would like to have a lot of applications from women. If we get even
one startup running led by a female entrepreneur, we will be happy
with that.”