Doing business (3)
Translated by: Hayat Hernández
The idea of establishing a project of constructing a free industrial region in the Palestinian city Jenin have been on the horizon since 1999, but it has faced many obstacles along the way. Nevertheless, it was on the agenda again last year. In February, the Union of Chambers of Commodity and Exchanges in Turkey (TOBB) officially announced having the authority of the Turkish president “Ardogan” to transfer a big amount of money to Palestine in order to execute the project. In the following, the details on the industrial zone in Janine are being illustrated.
The geographic area and location
The industrial region extends on an 1100-acres area on a barren land north of Janine, which is 3 kilometers away. The region is best known for its strategic location along “Marj bin Amer” plain, famous for producing high quality fruit and vegetables, located between “Sheikh Hussein” passageway on the Jordan lands in the north, and Haifa’s port in the west.
The project phases
The executive process of this project which is held by Turkey and Germany, consists of two phases.
The first phase is funded by Germany with 24 million euros, including all of the exterior infrastructure of the industrial region, and it’s probable to be ready in the middle of this year.
The second phase, sponsored by Turkey with about 10 million dollars, including the interior infrastructure, and expected to start the work soon according to what the Palestinian Minister of Industry “Khaled Al-Asili” stated for the Anadolu news agency.
The Turkish and German role isn’t limited to only sponsoring the project, as the Turkish company for commerce and industrial chambers “Top base” which is in charge of the industrial region’s development, signed a franchise agreement to execute the project and make the fundamental plan, and is considered one of the most significant companies in the union of Turkish chambers of commerce and industry, running 38 industrial regions in turkey.
Additionally, the German role is based on proposing recommendations to the Palestinian side to seek solutions in terms of engineering in order to overcome the problem of choosing the convenient place to establish the sewer pumping station of the industrial region.
The German bank of development is working as well along the industrial region organization to build or buy 45 megawatts transformers and constructing 1700 meter long roads.
Moreover, the Turkish side which is represented by “Top Base”, along with the German presented by “Tempo”, are both working on studying the industries characteristics that suit this region in order to take into account the international health and safety measures so that the factories built are ecofriendly.
The aims of the industrial zone
According to Palestinian officiates, the study on the feasibility of the industrial zone indicates that it will allow 20 thousand job opportunities, 5 thousands of them will be direct and 15 thousand indirect occupations.
Furthermore, the industrial region in Janine would promote the Palestinian industrial production, thus it would enhance Palestine’s exports and improve its trading scale through the agreements between Palestine and the rest of the world, especially that this project is receiving the support from the EU and USA which abide to import the productions of the industrial region and marketing them without any taxes.
Along with the western upholding, the region is receiving a special Turkish interest as the Turkish Union of Chamber of Commerce and Industry have shown their willingness to construct textile and fabric factories and other industries as well, after a field visit they made to the region last month as a result of the Turkish-Palestinian agreement that includes establishing Turkish factories in the industrial zone.
The Turkish interest is driven by turkey’s willingness to promote the trading exchanges with the Palestinian region, as Turkey is considered the second biggest trading partner to Palestine due to the number of commercial exchanges between the two countries that reached 700 million dollars. In addition to that, Turkey is seeking the benefit of being close to Haifa’s port, which has a strategic location on the Mediterranean, through its investments in the industrial zone in Palestinian lands in order to ensure its access to the Arab markets.
A dream come true
Establishing an industrial area in Janine has always been a dream to Palestinians who didn’t lose the persistence of accomplishing it despite the 15 years since the idea was manifested, it’s an aim to Palestinians to promote their productive sector and export all their productions to the rest of the world.
Since the beginning of the last year, with the support of Turkey and Germany, the Palestinian dream of seeing the engines of their factories run in their lands is nearly coming true.
بدأت فكرة إنشاء مشروع منطقة صناعية حرة في مدينة جنين الفلسطينية منذ العام 1999، لكنها تعثرت مرات عدة، في العام الماضي شرع العمل فيها من جديد، وفي شهر فبراير/ شباط الماضي، أعلن جمعية المكاتب التركية والبورصات ((TOBB بشكلٍ رسمي عن حصولها على إذن من الرئيس التركي "أردوغان" لتحويل مبلغ كبير إلى السلطة الفلسطينية لغرض تنفيذ المشروع. فيما يلي تفاصيل المنطقة الصناعية الجديدة في مدينة جنين.
المساحة والموقع الجغرافي
تمتد المنطقة الصناعية على مساحة 1100 دونم (1.1 كم) في منطقة منبسطة جرداء، شمال مدينة جنين، التي تبعد عنها حوالي 3 كيلومترات، وتمتز المنطقة بموقعها الجغرافي فهي تحاذي سهل "مرج بن عامر" المعروف بإنتاج أصناف ممتازة ومتنوعة من الخضروات والفاكهة، وبوقوعها بين معبر "الشيخ حسين" في الأراضي الأردنية شمالاً وميناء حيفاً غرباً.
مراحل تنفيذ المشروع
تنقسم عملية تنفيذ المشروع إلى مرحلتين، سيتم تنفيذهما بدعم كل من تركيا وألمانيا:
المرحلة الأولى: تمول المرحلة الأولى ألمانيا بقيمة 24 مليون يورو (28.8 مليون دولار) وتشمل جميع البنية التحتية الخارجة، ومن المرجح الانتهاء منها منتصف العام الجاري.
المرحلة الثانية: وتمولها تركيا بحوالي 10 ملايين دولار، وتشمل على بناء البنية التحتية الداخلية للمنطقة الصناعية، ومن المتوقع بدء العمل بها في القريب، وفقاً لتصريحات وزير الصناعة الفلسطيني "خالد العسيلي" لوكالة "الأناضول" التركية.
لا يقتصر الدور التركي والألماني على عملية التمويل، فالشركة المسؤولة عن تطوير المنطقة الصناعية والتي وقعت عقد امتياز لتنفيذ المنطقة الصناعية وإعداد المخططات الرئيسية هي شركة "توب بيس" التركية، التي تعتبر من أهم الشركات التي يملكها الاتحاد العام للغرف التجارية والصناعية التركية، التي تدير 38 منطقة صناعية في تركيا.
اما عن الدور الألماني فيمتد إلى تقديم استشارات للجانب الفلسطيني للبحث عن حلول هندسية للتجاوز مشكلة اختيار المكان البيئي المناسب لإنشاء محطة الصرف الصحي الخاصة بالمنطقة الصناعية.
بالإضافة إلى ذلك يعمل بنك التنمية الألماني بالتنسيق مع هيئة المنطقة الصناعية لإنشاء وشراء محول بسعة 45 ميغا واط وفتح شوارع بطول 1700 متر.
كما يعمل الجانب التركي ممثلً بشكرة "توب بيس" والجانب الألماني ممثلً بشركة "تمبو" على دراسة طبيعة الصناعات التي تلائم المنطقة، لمراعاة المعايير الصحة والسلامة الدولية بهدف أن تكون المصانع المزمع بناءها صديقة للبيئة.
أهداف المنطقة الصناعية
بحسب المسؤولين الفلسطينيين فإن دراسة الجدوى للمنطقة الصناعية تشير بأنها ستوفر نحو 20 ألف فرصة عمل، منها 5 آلاف فرصة عمل مباشرة، و15 ألف غير مباشرة. كما أن من شأن المنطقة الصناعية في جنين أن تعزيز من الإنتاج الصناعي للفلسطيني وان يؤثر بشكل إيجابي على صادرات فلسطين ويحسن من ميزانها التجاري من خلال الاستفادة من الاتفاقيات المبرمة بين السلطة الفلسطينية والعالم، لاسيما ان هذا المشروع يحظى بدعم من الاتحاد الأوروبي والولايات المتحدة التي تلتزم باستيراد منتجات المنطقة الصناعية وتسويقها بدون ضرائب.
إلى جانب الدعم الغربي، فإن المنطقة تحظى باهتمام تركي خاص، فسبق وان أبدى وفد من اتحاد الغرف التجارية والصناعية التركية استعدادهم لإقامة مصانع ملابس ونسيج وغيرها من الصناعات بعد أن قام بزيارة ميدانية للمنطقة الشهر فائت، يأتي ذلك في إطار اتفاق فلسطيني- تركيا يتضمن إنشاء مصانع تركية للعمل في المنطقة الصناعية.
يأتي الاهتمام التركي مدفوعاً برغبة الأخيرة بتعزيز التبادلات التجارية مع الجانب الفلسطيني، حيث تعتبر تركيا ثاني أكبر شريك تجاري لفلسطين فقد بلغت حجم التبادلات التجارية بين البلدين حوالي 700 مليون دولار. إلى جانب ذلك تسعى تركيا من خلال استثمارها في المنطقة الصناعية إلى الاستفادة من قربها من ميناء حيفا الاستراتيجي على البحر المتوسط، بهدف تعزيز وصولها إلى الأسواق العربية عبر تواجدها في الأراضي الفلسطينية.
حلم يقترب من التحقق
لطالما كان إنشاء منطقة صناعية في مدينة جنين الفلسطينية حلماً يراود الفلسطينيين، الذين لم يفقدوا عزيمتهم واصرارهم على إنجازها رغم مرور 15 عاماً على انطلاقها كحلم يأمل الفلسطينيين من خلالها دعم قطاعاهم الإنتاجي وتصدير منتجاتهم إلى كافة انحاء العالم.
بدءً من العام الماضي، وبدعم تركي- ألماني، أصبح حلم الفلسطينيين برؤية محركات المصانع تدور على أرضهم قريباً من التحقق.
المصدر: وكالات
Gaza is attracting the attention of Silicon Valley as young tech entrepreneurs push to solve problems themselves
16 Jan 2017 Written by Admin SAETech gurus from Uber, Google, SoundCloud, Microsoft and 500 Startups have visited Gaza on their own dime as volunteers to mentor startups.
by Christopher M. Schroeder*
If you have any doubt that near-universal access to tech is helping a new generation take control of their own lives, solving problems and building opportunity from the bottom-up everywhere — that “near-universal” means it’s not a phenomenon of the elite, but unleashing talent anywhere it resides — come to Gaza.
We’ve all seen it on the news. Gaza is a land of closed borders, three terrible conflicts in seven years and among the highest unemployment rates anywhere.
At the same time, and even with spotty and irregular electricity, it also has one of the higher levels of education and internet access in the Arab world. More than two-thirds of Gazans are under 24, and nearly all have high written and computing literacy. If the definition of a great entrepreneur is one who thrives in working through and around challenges and creating innovative solutions, it’s no surprise that Gaza is chock-full of them. Half of them, by the way, are women. And they are fighting for better futures there and across the region.
As in most nascent rising startup ecosystems in emerging markets, the pulling together of talent, their ideas, skills, mentoring and capital takes concerted work. In 2011, the global NGO Mercy Corps founded the co-working space Gaza Sky Geeks as an initial effort to convene young entrepreneurs. In 2013, two people joined to take it to a new level: Iliana Montauk, a Silicon Valley native with extensive experience in the Middle East, and Said Hassan, a former employee from the region’s largest e-commerce player, Souq.com, who had just returned home to Gaza.
What, they asked, if there were an acceleration program so prevalent in Silicon Valley and now around the world right there in Gaza? They cultivated the first class of investments by the end of that year. By 2014, more than 600 entrepreneurs applied to their efforts — double from the previous years combined. More recently, Ryan Sturgill, who launched an incubator in Afghanistan and has extensive experience in advising startups across the Middle East, joined as the new director building on its success to date.
Gaza Sky Geeks finds some of the leading startup ideas and entrepreneurs and connects them with mentors, training and coaches to help them turn these concepts into businesses. They also run a network of local freelancers so young people can earn income part-time by doing gig economy work online across the region. Plans are in the works to launch a coding academy to teach young Gazans not just how to code but why to code — what real-world application can software be brought to bear to create new opportunities. The offices are equipped with their own fiber lines and sufficient fuel to power their generators — and keep high-speed internet up — at least 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
It doesn’t take a lot of capital to get an idea into motion. Entry-level software engineers command $100,000 to $150,000 a year in Silicon Valley, but less than $4,800 in Gaza. With access to the web, this talent is significantly self-taught — accessing the best programming classes from around the world, gathering together in hackathons to improve their skills and partnering with other investors and accelerators in the region, like Oasis500 and PALinnO in neighboring Jordan.
What are these young women and men building? Everything you’d expect anywhere in the world today, often with a local flavor. 5QHQH is a platform to create and share funny online content in Arabic. Baskalet is a gaming studio aimed at Arab culture. MockApp offers professional designers apps to create prototypes, share them and manage projects. KooKies is a community of cooking enthusiasts that also provides access to home-delivered ingredients to create new recipes. Health care, ed-tech, e-commerce and more are all there, driven by a rise in consumer spending and ubiquitous access to mobile.
Inspired by Gaza’s geeks, and understanding the impact that entrepreneurs can have in bettering people’s lives and their economies, Silicon Valley and other global tech hubs have taken note. Tech gurus from places like Uber, Google, SoundCloud, Microsoft, 500 Startups, Endeavor Global, Udacity, Hitachi and more have visited Gaza on their own dime as volunteers to mentor these startups.
Complementing funders like Google, the Coca-Cola Foundation, Skoll and local players, Gaza Sky Geeks leveraged this support and track record to run its first crowd-funding campaign to help fund operations in 2014. They hoped to raise $70,000, but raised over $267,000 within weeks, and from more than 60 countries.
Last month, they kicked off their second campaign, Power Up Gaza Geeks, this time with matching contributions from regional ecosystem leaders like the founder of the largest VC firm there, Fadi Ghandour of the Wamda Group, and Samih Toukan, who founded one of the earlier successful exits in the Arab world and now chairs Jabbar Internet Group. In addition, matches are coming from the likes of 500 Startups co-founder Dave McClure, Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, Foundry Group and TechStars managing director Brad Feld and Crowdpac co-founder Gisel Kordestani. Just yesterday, Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and “Lean Startup” author Eric Ries joined the campaign match.
This campaign was launched to buy a generator and fuel to extend the co-working hub’s hours in response to Gaza’s most severe energy shortage to date. In addition, they are raising funds to launch Gaza’s first coding academy.
Ghandour built Aramex, the largest tech-powered logistics company in the Arab world and perhaps the first true “unicorn” before the term was used. As a go-to investor in the Arab world, he has seen everything. “This is what we do at the Wamda Group,” Ghandour explains. “We support entrepreneurs and we help nurture the ecosystem in the region. Gaza Sky Geeks is where techies come to get their dose of hope in achieving part of their ambitions under a blockade system that punishes everyone. This is about Gazan Geeks becoming entrepreneurs and building businesses like everyone else around the world. It is ambitious, talented youth exploring, venturing and succeeding.”
McClure, who now operates funds in nearly every core emerging market, told me, “Gazans are smart people working on ideas for companies, and to some extent they have even more hustle than I’ve seen elsewhere, because they’re working in such a tough environment. They may actually be some of the best entrepreneurs in the world.”
One of the greatest and least understood stories of our times is not only that a new generation — everywhere — is solving problems themselves and not waiting for anyone to give permission, but has for the first time the tools in their pockets to do so at scale and affordably.
And nothing stands in their way. Said himself is living proof. His home was destroyed during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. Israeli shelling destroyed his whole neighborhood, including the U.N. building across the street from his home, where his father had previously worked. Said was able to evacuate with his laptop and returned to Gaza Sky Geeks, living in a friend’s house and back to work in a matter of days.
This story in Gaza is hopeful in and of itself, but a lens for prosperity and paths to futures everywhere. What I have seen has convinced me to be an adviser to them and their entrepreneurs and support their campaigns. They are deeply worthy.
The original article is published at the following link
*Christopher M. Schroeder is a U.S.-based venture investor, tech entrepreneur and the author of “Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East.” Reach him @cmschroed.
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