Business and Technology Incubator (BTI) in Community Service and Continuing Education Deanship (CSCED) at Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) concluded GoDigital project entitled “Promoting self-employment for refugees and youth in Gaza through digital channels”. The project is funded by the Government of Japan, and implemented by International Trade Center-ITC in partnership with Business and Technology Incubator .
The GoDigital project is distinguished by the fact that it consists of three different tracks: entrepreneurship track, freelancing track, and curricula automation track that is launched for the first time in Palestine.
The closing ceremony was held in the presence of Dr. Alaaeddin Al-Jamasi – Dean of CSCED, Eng. Basil Qandil – Director of BTI, and the donor party represented by Ms. Lilia Nass – Director of ITC in Africa and the Middle East “via zoom”, and a participation from the supervisory authority represented by Ms. Iman Bseisu – Trade Promotion Officer at ITC, Engineer Esraa Mousa – Project Manager, Ms. Nour Al-Hayya – Project Officer, BTI staff, and a group of VIPs and graduates who benefited from the project.
During the closing ceremony, results of the project and its impact on the trainees and entrepreneurs during the period of their training, guidance and hosting in BTI were reviewed, in addition to highlighting the most important successes and achievements of the project that have been achieved with the aim of helping young people to reach economic empowerment and self-employment.
Dr. Al-Jamasi stressed the deanship’s endeavor to support young people through the implementation of many distinguished projects and programs that empower them economically and achieve self-employment, praising the pioneering role of the incubator in supporting male and female graduates, extricating them from unemployment and working to achieve their independence.
Mrs. Bseisu expressed her pride in GoDigital project, being the third cooperation between ItC and BTI, and that the project came with a new component, which is curricula automation track. She also showed her appreciation and admiration for everything that is being done to support Gazan youth and empower them economically.
Eng. Qandil indicated that BTI with all its staff continuously seeks to support male and female graduates from various fields through the incubator’s various services and programs distributed between incubation services, acceleration and freelancing training, which was brought together by the GoDigital project.
Eng. Qandil praised the role of the incubator as the first incubator to launch curricula automation track in Palestine, stressing his pride in the successes and achievements of the GoDigital project trainees in the three tracks. He hoped that this would be a starting point for more successes and achievements.
Eng. Mousa pointed to the most important achievements and financial returns achieved by the project trainees within the freelancing and curricula automation tracks, which exceeded $75,000 in less than a month since the completion of the freelancing phase training, which is expected to double over the next six months to exceed $150,000. She clarified that the number of job opportunities that the trainees obtained through the platforms exceeded 350, and more than 30 long-term contracts were signed with regional and local companies.
Ms. Al-Hayya announced the opportunity to accelerate the ten entrepreneurial projects that were incubated within the leadership path within the global business accelerator GrowthX, after the remarkable success achieved by the owners of entrepreneurial projects in the investment day pitching that were implemented for the first time by BTI with the participation of investors from all over the world virtually.
The ceremony included the announcement of Engineer Ashraf Al-Astal, the project consultant, about the launch of Ye! Community chapter in Palestine sponsored by BTI. The ceremony included a presentation of distinguished success stories within the three project tracks, and a tribute to the success partners within the project: consultants, mentors, technical trainers and freelancing trainers.
It should be noted that within the GoDigital project, more than 260 graduates from various universities and disciplines have been trained in three distinct tracks: Entrepreneurship track, freelancing track with its six majors (SEO, Flutter, WordPress, React JS. Bookkeeping, and Translation), and curricula automation track. Through this project, graduates were technically trained on several skills, and then trained on freelancing skills and how to deal with online platforms, along with many activities and networking sessions.
It is noteworthy that the GoDigital project was an extension of the cooperation cycle and a continuation of the series of successes with International Trade Center (ITC) that began in 2018 to serve graduates in the Gaza Strip, with the aim of enhancing their capabilities and enabling them to work through digital channels. The GoDigital project is the third installment ITC and BTI.
