STARTUP WEEKEND EVENT ENDS AND “JOSUR” GOT THE FIRST POSITION
Mshkah- Gaza:
The activities of the international event “Startup Weekend Gaza for people with disabilities”ended by the winning of three entrepreneur projects. The first project among them “JOSUR” who was directly qualified to go to the international competition, while “Online Work” got the second position and “I Can” got the third.
The competition started as one of the activities of the International Entrepreneurship Week in Palestine on 17 of last November at Al Mathaf Hotel in Gaza and it was for three days. During this competition, 20 teams with entrepreneurial project worked to develop their ideas and create prototypes that contribute to solve the problems that people with disabilities are suffering from. These teams were formed out of 80 youths from all professions, who were participants in the camp, by the end of the first day. 45 of them were disabled with different types of disabilities: mobility, audio and visual, and the rest were youths with ideas or experiences serve people with disabilities.
The event this year was special in Gaza because it was for people with disabilities for the first time in the world. It aims to integrate young people with disabilities into entrepreneurship and give them an opportunity to establish their own businesses that will serve them.
Winning Project
“JOSUR” project is a website and smart phone application present job opportunities for people with disabilities and give them a chance to apply and compete to get them. This will help people with disabilities to access the labor market and get the available opportunities easily. This application is unique as it solves one of the most important problems that people with disabilities in Palestine have.
Success and special prizes
The event succeeded to accomplish its goals through the youth active participation all along the event hours and it had a global echo before it ended as it was decided to hold the same event for the same category in Paris France. Google for entrepreneurs will offer special prizes to the winning teams such as the participation at Dubai Conference within the coming months. In addition, Jawwal offered prizes to the winning teams as follows: the first will get 3000 NIS, the second will get 2000 NIS, and the third will get 1000 NIS.
The head of Jawwal Company in Gaza, Mr Omar Shamali, gave a speech at the launch ceremony of the event and it was about Jawwal’s full support to the entrepreneurs and he said that the company cares about this event in particular; and he pledged to do everything necessary to help the winning projects to succeed and achieve their ideas.
Participants and special arrangements:
45 youths with disabilities and others participated in the camp. This number was selected after sort and evaluation stages. They were selected from about 500 requests of participation and there were more than 170 requests among them from youths with disabilities.
To ensure the success of the event, the head of the organizing team, Ahmed Saqer, clarified that they worked hard this time to facilitate everything to guarantee the participant’s safety and comfort, to provide transport and, to prepare the hall and facilities to facilitate movement, and to provide a special place for rest as the work in the camp will continue from 9:00 am until 8:00 pm and some of them can’t stay for this long duration without some rest during to their health conditions. There will be two physiotherapists available during the event in addition to a number of volunteers to assist them.
Opinions of Attendance
Regarding the event, Dr. Abdulkareem Al Madhoun, the representative of the Higher Council for Innovation andExcellence, said: “we need an initiative like this to gather all the owners of innovative ideas and projects so that we meet with creative people and provide them with a space to talk about their initiatives. We, in the Higher Council, will adopt any innovative and implementable project and we will cover its costs until it sees the light”.
Dr. Ghassan Abu Araf, the head of UNRWA Khan Younis Training College, said that Startup Weekend event is a good opportunity for Palestine to be the first in the world who present this event for the people with disabilities. “We should use the presented ideas to help the people with disabilities in their practical life and we should employ technology to support them in this direction. This is our role here to be guides to them through clear ideas and instructions to give them a chance to join the labor market” he said.
As a member of the jury, Abu Araf said that he had noticed a quantum leap in the presentation of ideas on the last day and that this happened due to the hard work of the teams throughout the event, in addition to the special effort exerted by the guides from various professions, both technical and commercial.
Sponsors and Partners
This event was arranged by a team of volunteers with the participation of “Gaza Google Developers”, a full platinum sponsorship from Jawwal, and media sponsorship by Mshkah for startups. The team of volunteers conducted partnerships with many international institutions whose work is related to people with disabilities to assist the success of event. These institutions are: Handicap International, Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, Irada, Al Qattan Institution, GIZ, University of Palestine, Gaza Cultuer and Development Group, and Beacon Company.
It’s worth mentioning that Startup Weekend event is an activity found in hundreds of cities around the world. Its duration is 54 hours start by the presentation of the entrepreneur ideas and ends by the evaluation of these ideas before the jury; in between is the hard work and competition between the team works to study the idea, create the prototypes, try to prove the idea and the seriousness of the team and the presence of genuine customers who want to purchase this product or service.
The event is held in Gaza for the eighth time where hundreds of entrepreneurs participated before. It was the launch of many projects and entrepreneur companies in Gaza. This time it is held in synchronization with 100 cities around the world as part of the international entrepreneur week, one of them is in Ramallah.