Orange Corners and Flow Accelerator along with a group of enablers and actors in the Palestinian entrepreneurship ecosystem celebrated the official launch of Orange Corners Palestinian territories, to be the initiative’s 16th location in Africa and the Middle East powered by Flow Accelerator in Ramallah. Orange Corners Palestinian Territories is an initiative of the Kingdom of The Netherlands that provides young entrepreneurs with training, networks, and facilities to start and grow innovative businesses, which includes an integrated incubation programme that assist entrepreneurs in investment readiness through business development support, masterclasses and mentoring. The opening ceremony came under the patronage of H.E Usama Sadawi, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment, and H.E Mr. Kees Van Baar, the Netherlands Representative in Palestinian Territories.

 

This launch is part of Orange Corners’ complementary partnership with local incubators and accelerators to support the foundation of the Palestinian entrepreneurship ecosystem among growing desire to contribute to a thriving innovation system. Orange Corners’ objectives and goals intersect with Flow Accelerator’s mission which in turn helps early-stage startups overcome financial and technical barriers through incubation and pre-acceleration to become investment-ready based on the best practices helping Palestinian ventures grow.

 

In light of this partnership H.E Usama Sadawi expressed his excitement for this initiative hoping that it would accomplish its goals, which includes supporting innovative Palestinian startups and providing opportunities for entrepreneurs to expand to regional and international markets, by joining the Orange Corners network, which in turn works in many several developing markets similar to Palestine. H.E. Mr. Sadawi also clarified the ministry’s plans to create a supportive environment for startups and entrepreneurs, highlighting the importance of combining and coordinating the efforts of different parties in the entrepreneurship eco-system, particularly accelerators and international partners to work through the entrepreneurship cluster that was launched earlier this year.

H.E Kees van Baar commented that the Netherlands Representative Office in Ramallah is very much delighted with the start of an Orange Corners programme in the Palestinian Territories, as there are many challenges for young entrepreneurs, but also many opportunities when guided and trained. The Netherlands supports the two-state solution for which a viable Palestinian economy is important. The Netherlands strongly encourages the development of the Palestinian ecosystem and the development of startups of young ambitious Palestinians.

 

Likewise, Flow Accelerator CEO Majd Khalifeh stated; “We are looking forward to an effective partnership that complements what the entrepreneurial eco-system is achieving towards supporting a technological transformation.” We encourage the formation of new partnerships with regional and international entrepreneurial ecosystems to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences between mentors, experts and Palestinian entrepreneurs, as well as the communication of both successful and failed experiments.” Majd added “Our programs intersect with Orange Corners’ programs in feeding entrepreneurs with product-market fit validation methods with the goal of preparing startups for investment readiness and sustainability”.

 

It is also worth noting that the call for applications to join the Orange Corners Palestinian Territories Incubation Program has been opened since the beginning of February for entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 in the West Bank and Gaza, with the goal of providing validation assistance for their Minimum Viable Product (MVP).