Translated by: Hayat Hernández

Although palm trees are considered beautiful decorative plants and very suitable for sunny days, they have a very significant role in nutrition being a rich source of vitamins and important minerals.

As said in the Quran “For it is He who has brought into being gardens-[both] the cultivated ones and those growing wild -and the date-palm, and fields bearing multiform produce, and the olive tree, and the pomegranate: [all] resembling one another and yet so different! Eat of their fruit when it comes to fruition, and give [unto the poor] their due on harvest day. And do not waste [God's bounties]: verily, He does not love the wasteful”, Al Ana‘am (6: 141)

It’s thought that the first place where palm trees were cultivated was the Arabian island “Harkan” in Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf, and later spread through Iraq into the other parts of the world according to “Ibn Wahshyah”, one of the oldest writers in terms of agriculture. Confirmed by “Al Subai’I” 1933.

Palm trees and different cultures

This tree was a symbol of warship amongst Chaldea, Assyrians and Phoenicians, in fact, many ministries in Arab countries relate palm trees with culture, religion and history. According to the official website of the ministry of agriculture in Jordan, palm tree was mentioned in the Jewish scripts, as well as dates which were one of the seven sacred fruits. It was mentioned in the bible also that Crist was born under a palm tree, and his followers paved the ground with palm leaves along his way when he entered Jerusalem. As for Islam, dates have a very special quality when it comes to Ramadan (the month that Muslims fast during), where it is desirable for the fasting person to break his fast on dates. This was proven by the actions of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace.

Many civilizations have cherished palm trees since the beginning of their rise by decorating their palaces and monuments, their trunks were also used as columns. Cultivating palm trees was the first type of farming that certain laws were made for to follow, as it was in Hammurabi’s Code.

The Economic value

Some of the oil supplying countries are having a drop off in the oil production, while in the meantime there is another kind of oil in the pipeline that requires different climate conditions, and that is palms oil.

Nowadays, 30 countries around the world cultivate palm trees, almost 600 thousand hectares of farmed land, 422 thousand of them belong to Arab lands. The economic worth of this plant is tremendous that it’s in the vein of oil growing on trees. The Arab world has come in the lead in the dates production by 70% of international production, out of 100 million trees that are planted in the world, almost 80 million are planted in Arab countries. Although palm trees cultivation isn’t the easiest, the outcomes of this kind of investment are noteworthy considering 80 to 100 Kg of dates come from just one tree after 7 years of planting.

Obviously the date fruit production represents a very significant sector in the economy, and it’s rising constantly. For example, Turkey consumes almost 10 thousand tons of dates in Ramadan according to the Jordan newspaper “Al-Raya”, and this sector is considered to be in the lead in terms of hiring a tremendous number of workers, which reduces the average number of unemployed people in the Arab world.

Regarding the types of dates that exist, they passed 2000 types, in Iraq only there are over 600 types, 400 in Iran, and almost 400 in Libya according to the “Iraqi Network of Palm Tree”, plus over 400 type of dates in Saudi Arabia, in addition to the varieties that are cultivated in all Africa excluding Libya, they would reach more than 2000 varieties, every type having a different name which illustrates the importance of this agroindustry.

Population growth

The number of human population on earth will reach 9 billion people in 2050, which will cause the need of more food to increase, and consequently, MENA resources to decrease especially palm trees and dates due to many factors, but it will remain the best region to grow palms regarding the climate and soils.

Healthy benefits of date fruit

Balah (a type of dates) contains most basic nutrients for the human body, and they are considered a good source for vitamins. This fruit is like a mine containing a lot of basic minerals like phosphorus, calcium, iron, magnesium, sodium, sulfur, and chloride. It has also numerous benefits on the health being consumed as food, a fruit, a drink, dessert, and also a medicine. It contains 21% of water and many vitamins such as vitamin A, B1, B2, D, 1.2% protein, 18% fat, 73% sugar, and 3% fibers. 1 Kg of dates provides your body with the same amount of calories that a kilogram of meat does, and three times the calories that 1 Kg of fish provides.

Date fruits contain monosaccharaides (glucose and fructose) such as Al-Barhi, Al-Sayer, Al-Zuhdi, Al-Sidi, and Halawi, and disaccharides (sucrose) such as Dajla Noor and Dajla Baida.

All parts of the palm tree can be useful, such as:

The kernel: suitable as fodder for livestock and increases its production of meat and milk. And enters in the yeast industry as well.

Leaves and fronds: to make tools, furniture, antiques, cages, ropes and baskets.

Logs: to make house roofs, doors and seats in addition to bridges, archways and pulp.

Parts of the stems can be used as fuel or tanks for planting ornamental plants.

Some types of dates are used to extract natural incense from, such as Dagla, which is bred in Morocco.

The fruit (Rutab and Dates): has a high nutritive value, as well as being a source for oil, sugar, and syrup, besides its role in the cosmetic industry.

Pollen: used in pharmaceutical manufacture.

Roots: to keep the soil consistent.

Palms and the surrounding environment

Date palm tree has a significant role in maintaining a balanced environment and preventing the desert invasion, due to its ability to adapt to it, the extension of its roots vertically and horizontally permits the plant to reach humid areas in order to get to the sources of water. As for the leaves, they are attached to the wickers and covered with a waxy layer and folded into V shape along their branch, forming a canoe-like shape, with its bottom facing upward to reduce water loss. Palm trees are also used to ward off the wind around farms, as they prevent and slow desertification. They also protect the trees and plants grown around them. The palm also tolerates high temperatures, salinity and drought.

Arab countries that most produce this unique fruit:

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom owns more than 23 million palm trees, with a production exceeding one million tons, according to Food and Agriculture Organization "FAO", equivalent to 16% of the total global production, and increasing by about 3% annually. The Kingdom supports palm farmers by about 50 riyals per palm, and this market also provides thousands of job opportunities. There are dozens of factories to manufacture palm products. Nevertheless, the kingdom does not export more than 5% of its annual output.

The most famous area in which date palm is cultivated is the Qassim region, where the "City of Dates" was established. It is famous for containing almost eight million palm trees, of which there are six million productive trees, more than 205 thousand tons of various types of dates are also grown in Saudi Arabia and more than 400 species, seventy of them have a high economic value.

United Arab Emirates

There are about 40 million palm trees in the UAE, 8.5% of them are planted in “Al Ain” region where there is a gene pool that includes almost 120 species, and high quality varieties were added recently imported from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and the Sultanate of Oman.

Palestine

Cultivated date palms have existed in Palestine for thousands of years. Being a tree of great economic value, and a great religious status, being a perennial tree, and its ability to withstand many climatic conditions, in addition to its ability to grow in saline soils, palm tree has gained the attention of the Palestinian farmer.

The Mediterranean climate conditions dominant in the area provide optimal conditions for growth and development of date palm.

Date palm cultivation is widespread in Palestine in the Jericho area, the Jordan Valley, and the Gaza Strip, especially in the cities of Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis. Historically, the city of Jericho was called the "City of Palms". Because of the large number of palm plantations in it.

Date palm cultivation is the least labor-intensive crops, and the least labor-intensive crops. The tree needs three years to bear fruit, and after six years it reaches its peak. This sector, which was on the top of the Palestinian agricultural sector in the Jordan Valley, in terms of areas, water consumption, and agricultural labor absorption.

After 1967, considerable areas of the Jordan Valley were cultivated by Israeli farmers with new high-quality date palm cultivars including Medjool. The adaptability of the new cultivars and the use of advanced techniques for propagation and cultivation of dates produced crop of excellent quality and yield to supply local and international markets.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture the cultivated area in the Palestinian valleys with palm trees is estimated at about 24 thousand dunums at the end of 2020 out of a total of 55 thousand dunums of land that Palestinians exploit in the Jordan Valley. This is a small fraction of 300 thousand dunums suitable for cultivation, but still unexploited. According to the statistics of the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, the number of palm trees by the end of 2020 was estimated at about 330 thousand trees, and the quantity of production of pure Palestinian dates until at about 12,800 thousand tons. The Palestinian local market in the West Bank and Gaza Strip consumes about 6,000 tons of dates annually. It was estimated that 60% of the Palestinian production of dates goes to the local market, and only 40% of the production is exported from the Palestinian Majool (Medjool) variety, where the per capita consumption is estimated annually at about 900 grams of dates.

The most important palm varieties cultivated in Palestine are Medjool, Al-Barhi, Elhayani. Medjool dates are one of the finest dates produced in the Palestinian, at the regional and international levels. Because it is grown in areas below sea level; It increases the percentage of oxygen, which gives it a distinct flavor and color.

According to Abu-Qaoud several constraints face date cultivation and development, including high investment costs, poor marketing, and inequitable competition with Israeli products, limited water, pests, and diseases. However, there is a trend by formal governmental agencies as well as by national NGOs to support the cultivation of date palms in Palestine. The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture has initiated several programs to support date palm cultivation in the Jordan Valley since 2000 with local NGO participation.

Egypt

According to the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture, date palms cultivation extends in most governorates of the country where there are about 20 million palm trees, representing 73,653 acres, or about 6.32% of the total fruit cultivated land, as it currently reaches approximately 14% of the total fruit production. This increase is attributed to the expansion of the areas planted with palm trees in the governorates of Matrouh, New Valley, North Sinai, South Sinai, the Red Sea, Nubaria, Toshka, Al Uwaynat, and modern reclaimed lands.

Due to the varied climatic conditions in Egypt, the wet and semi-dry varieties have spread in the Delta and Middle Egypt regions, while the Upper Egypt region, especially Aswan, is known to uniquely contain dry varieties.

Palm trees need relatively high temperatures and low amount of humidity during the summer to produce fruits with good quality and high yield, specific thermal conditions that differ for different varieties are required.

A team of scientists consisting of researchers from the Genetic Engineering Research Institute, and the Central Laboratory for Palm Research and Development of the Agricultural Research Center, as well as the Bioinformatics Department of Nile University succeeded in determining the initial version of the genetic map for some varieties of date palms. Therefore, this accurate information about the commercially desirable species can be used to predict the type and gender of palm trees planted, and to contribute with reveling ways to increase Egypt's production of palm trees as well, thus enhancing its reproduction developing programs to protect the plants from diseases and pests.

Some indicators of the growing interest in palm cultivation:

Date palm tissue culture laboratory

Many countries rely on traditional agricultural methods such as seed and seedling planting, so in order to make a change by developing palm cultivation to increase its production, the Palm Tissue Cultivation Laboratory was established in 1989 at the UAE University, which intended to produce hundreds of thousands of palm seedlings. Consequently, the laboratory gained a prominent scientific position commercially as one of the largest laboratories for palm trees propagation.

Palm tissue cultivation has many advantages compared to the traditional methods, such as:

• Increasing the cultivation of female seedlings that are free of diseases and pests and resilient seedlings, or best pollen producing male seedlings.
• Cultivation of offshoots in sustainable lands directly without waiting for the incubation phase (2-3 years), the offspring then have an entire root system (offspring with whole cells) and are planted during the propagation season (August – September) or (March – April).
• Increasing the production of selected types of dates. One of the most significant advantages of this method is the homogeneity of the produced shoots, which guarantees the homogeneity and velocity of plant growth, as the crop can be harvested after only 4 years of planting.
• Palm seedlings can be propagated from known varieties or from cultivars with a seed origin.
• Ensuring an easy and rapid exchange of plant materials between different regions of the country, or between countries, without risking the spread of diseases or pests.
• Obtaining offsets from palm trees that have lost their ability to produce offspring.
• Considered to be an economic aspect as a result of increasing production in large quantities without causing any type of diseases.

In addition to that, the Dates International Council was established in Saudi Arabia, a large number of conferences and exhibitions were also held in MENA to enhance trade exchange between producing and consuming countries and also to encourage the exchange of expertise among them.

Popular date festivals such as the Palm Carnival in Saudi Arabia were organized, as well as the Emirates International Palm and Date Festival, which was arranged by Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority.

Causes of the decline in date palm production in the Arab region

Agricultural pesticides: Palm trees in Egypt are exposed to many insect pests that reduce the harvest or damage it when stored, and as a result of infection with these pests, the loss in the crop may reach 52%. In fact, some of these pests, such as the red palm weevil, may lead to the death of the palm within a year or two, which limits the spread of palm cultivation in many areas. In addition, these pests don’t just affect the fruit, but also the fronds, branches, roots and the stems.

Lack of the farmers awareness on how to fight agricultural pests.

Using traditional agricultural methods instead of modern technologies for irrigation and fertilization; increasing their rates leads to an increase in the rates of productivity of date palms and thus causing the economic outcome to rise.

Palm trees aging, which leads to a lack of production as is the case in Algeria and Tunisia, where 35% of their palms suffer from a lack of production due to their aging process.

Poor marketing as a result of lack of experience internally and externally.

Weak technical expertise that allows raising the level of the product to fit the international standards of foreign markets, as is the case in some small producing countries.

The high cost of production in the case of poor infrastructure such as roads, high transportation costs, pollen prices, fertilizers and pesticides, as is the case in Palestine where Israel controls palm pollen and pesticides for this type of tree.

Wars and political instability, as happened in Iraq, which toped the list of dates producing countries with more than six hundred species, and it is the place where man began planting palm trees four thousand years ago according to the head of the Date Palm Center at Basra University, Dr. Kazem Jasam Hammadi, who stated for “Deutsche Welle” channel the decline causes in the number of date palms in Basra, which he attributed to the war and high levels of salinity due to the rise in Gulf waters, in addition to the population invasion at the expense of palm groves.

Countries that have made qualitative progress

Palestine

Despite what may seem a small market compared to the other major markets, date producers in Palestine have made a quantum leap in the cultivation of palm trees in terms of quantity and quality within a short period not exceeding six years. The Palestinian farmer was able to plant 59,000 thousand palm seedlings; an area of ​​4,249 acres during the period (2006 - 2012).

A study issued by the Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture and Industry in Jericho city and the Jordan valley (Al Aghwar) in 2014 indicated that date palm cultivation is one of the most promising investments, as the production of dates doubled between 2012 and 2014 by 100%, bringing the production amount to about 4000 tons. There are other types of dates in Palestine such as Al-Barhi, Al-Hayani and Medjool.

According to the study carried out by the Jericho Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, dates exports reached 50% of the total agricultural exports during 2011 - 2014, because Palestinian dates fit the international quality standards, which have competed with Israeli dates on the international market. The total number of employees and workers during the harvest season was estimated at 3200 persons.

Rare dates: pass under the sea

Medjool dates are considered one of the finest types of dates produced in the Palestinian, Jordanian territory, on regional and international levels. Due to its growth in areas below sea level, the percentage of oxygen increases, which gives it a distinct flavor and color. As for the expected output of "Majhoul or Medjool" dates for the year 2015, it reached 4 to 5 thousand tons, and this figure may double ten times within one decade, according to the officials of Nakheel, which is owned by PADICO Holding Company, whose annual production of this type reached 400 tons out of 26,000 date palm trees. The Palestinian market is small, but it is a promising market. "This rare date is grown in the Palestinian valleys and parts of Mexico and California, but the" Medjool "dates grown under the sea remain the most distinctive and highest quality, as stated by Engineer Tariq Al-Qawasmi, General Manager of the Arab Agricultural Company in Jericho.

Moamen Mazen Sinokrot, General Manager of Pal Garden in Jericho, which produces 600 tons of dates per year, said that he expects significant growth in the coming period that may reach 30% annually, as a result of high demand and high return on investment.

Palestine won first place (for the fourth category) in the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm in its seventh congregation as the best development project in the field of date palm development, in which 34 Arab and foreign countries participated with 137 research. Dr. Nasser Al-Jaghoub, head of the Agricultural Risks and Insurance Fund, and Ahmed Fares, Director of Jericho Directorate at the Ministry of Agriculture, won the award.

The characteristics of the Medjool or Majool palm tree

The origin of this variety is from the Kingdom of Morocco, but it disappeared from there due to agricultural pests that affected it, so its seedlings were transferred to California and then to the Jordan Valley areas in Palestine and Jordan. This variety is characterized by a medium-sized stem, and short fronds of medium bending, and the bases of the fronds are of medium width, starting with a dark green and then yellowing, and showing lines or brown spots in the middle, the number of thorns on a single frond ranges from 30 to 38, although the fruit is considered amongst the soft varieties, other type of dates fruit can be softer than meat in comparison. The fruits of this variety may suffer damage from rain and high humidity, but to a small degree. The date palm yield ranges from 80 - 100 kg per year.

Jordan

In Jordan there are about a quarter of a million trees, and the Jordan Valley region is the most famous for its palm cultivation and some areas of the northeastern desert (Al-Azraq), and Jordan is making great efforts to develop this cultivation appropriate to the nature of a large part of its lands. Where agricultural reserves for this purpose were being established, as the United Arab Emirates supplied the Kingdom with fifty thousand seedlings of tissues originating from different varieties to study their suitability for agriculture, they included Barhi, Maktoumi, Khalas, Sandy Gish, Khadrawi, Razeer, Zuhdi, Namishi. As for the interest in Medjool dates, it began in Jordan some twenty-five years ago.

Dates are the future sustenance

Engineer Muhammad Batayneh, General Manager of AgriJordan (which grows approximately 4,500 trees), stated that the date palm is the future cultivar, due to the uniqueness of this tree in its ability to purify the water it absorbs from the soil so that the plant does not secret any heavy metals or unwanted elements to the fruit. Because normally, palm trees are irrigated with recycled sewage water, which is a source for many palm farms due to the severe water shortage in the area. As a result to the unique quality of the fibers of the long stem of the palm, it purifies the water as a natural water filter. Batayneh, who is proud of the Jordan Valley dates, especially Medjool dates which are among the best in the world, carries on saying that the future of fruit and vegetables cultivation is endangered because of clean water shortage. However, palm cultivation remains feasible and profitable, and thus the cost of repeated water for irrigation purposes can be borne."

(العربية)

On May 18, Wamda Foundation and the ArabNet website released a special report titled "The Impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in the Middle East and North Africa", which highlighted the situation of startups in the Middle East and North Africa in light of the Coronavirus pandemic in both the region and the rest of the world. The report aimed to identify the impact of COVID-19 on the region's entrepreneurship sector as well as measures that can be taken to relieve financial pressures on startups.

In the introduction, the report presented the macroeconomic conditions in the Arab region. It noted the negative repercussions of the low oil prices that led to major tremors in the economies of the oil-producing Arab countries, the worsening economic crisis in Lebanon, the high prices in Egypt, and the increase of the value-added tax in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
These conditions have driven to the push towards embracing the digital economy for the sake of continued economic growth. For startups in the region, the situation is either catastrophic or a stimulus for growth, in the words of the authors of the report. In the following summary, we will cover the most important points in the report.

Where are startups located?

The United Arab Emirates is still at the forefront of countries in the MENA region in embracing startups and new entrepreneurs. It’s home to 24% of startups in the region, followed by Lebanon, where startups have enjoyed remarkable growth. They account for approximately 18% of the total startup population in the region, followed by Saudi Arabia and Egypt with 14.7% and 13.1%, respectively. By contrast, Iraq and Yemen ranked last with 0.4% each.

What sectors are startups active in?

Perhaps the most prominent repercussions of COVID-19 on the business world are the effects on the fundamental structure of economic activity. Work prospects are temporarily blocked in the face of the lack of demand, whereas new horizons have been opened within other areas that were less active before the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. The figures reflect these market shifts, with data showing that 6.5% of emerging companies active in the Middle East and North Africa are working in the field of digital medical care, and 6.9% of them are working in digital learning. Both sectors that have witnessed significant growth since the onset of the pandemic. The data also shows an increase in the software solutions sector. This segment accounted for 13.5% of emerging companies active within the region, representing the largest slice of the overall market. Software solutions were swiftly followed by electronic commerce (e-commerce) with 11%. This sector, in particular, has always been at the forefront of a number of emerging companies in the Arab region over the last few years. Lastly, the financial solutions technology sector took third place with 9.4%. It’s tipped to become the fastest-growing business sector over next few years.

The stages of development of startups

According to the life cycle of startup financing in the MENA region, the first phase, known as the Seed stage, accounts for 31.4% of companies, which is the highest percentage of those seeking funding in the region. The second highest proportion of companies were in the initial financing stage (29%), followed by the first financing round at 18%. Those in the second and third rounds of financing represented 4.5% and 2.4% of startups respectively. Those financed by angel investors was about 14.7%, and this percentage perhaps indicates the increasing number of emerging projects reaching the first round of financing. With faster access to financing, startups can scale quicker and compete with established players in the market.

The impact of the epidemic on startups

The COVID-19 pandemic forced people to stay in their homes, directly impacting the travel and transportation sector. A third of the companies active in the transport sector within this region suspended their activities. Consequently, their revenues suffered a loss of around 75 to 100%. Furthermore, 25% of startups in the travel sector stopped operating completely, and 50% of them have subsequently suspended their business activities.

The lockdowns, uncertainty, and negative outlook for the economy have had a negative impact on 71% of startups, with 22% suspending their activities altogether. A further 21% of startups have witnessed a decrease in demand, which has led to large losses. On the other hand, most of the emerging companies in the field of delivery services (e-commerce), digital education, and digital health have benefited from a significant increase in the demand for their services, which has reflected positively on their revenues, particularly in the e-commerce sector.

Financing startups in light of the epidemic situation

The spread of the global pandemic has put a great strain on demand in international markets, which has led to a decline in oil that, in turn, has reduced the available resources of financing for startups. Most of the regional financing operations come from the oil-producing countries, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which were affected by the drop in oil prices. The pressure on financing opportunities exposed most emerging companies to the risks of poor cash flow management. On the subject of financing rounds affected by the impact of the pandemic, the answers of the respondents to the questionnaire can be summarized as follows:

• 6% said that the epidemic affected their financing rounds.
• Of those 49.6% above, 44% said that their financing rounds were either stopped or canceled.
• 8% of the respondents said that their investment environment had improved.
• 1% said that their financing rounds were not affected by the epidemic.
• 5% of respondents said that they are not looking for funding, so they were not affected by funding from the epidemic.

In answering a question about whether investors were involved in the day-to-day operation of their business, the answers were as follows:

• 4% were unsure of the answer
• 1% answered no
• 5% said yes

Emerging companies respond to the epidemic

This section of the report discussed how the emerging companies responded to the pandemic, as the founders of the startups rapidly reassessed their priorities. The discussions were focused on how to expand and grow their products in view of the current situation, as well as adapting the work environment to ensure the continuity of the company’s work.

On the question of how to respond to the pandemic, most of the responses indicated a multifaceted approach, the most important of which was changing the work environment to become remote. Almost two thirds of respondents said that they moved to work from home (WFH) setups in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Other popular responses included taking the option to postpone expansion plans, reduce prices and introduce special offers. By contrast, a number of startups chose the option of reducing the number of workers, reducing wages and reducing working hours. Many other companies had a more positive response by exploiting the situation to launch new marketing campaigns, establish new partnerships with suppliers, and recruit new employees as part of their pandemic response.

When the authors of the report asked about the type of support that could help startups in continuing their businesses, it was found that more than half wished to obtain new investments or grants. The founders (who were included in the questionnaire) expressed their desire to obtain investment, loans, or assignment invoices to support the ecosystem of the startups within the region. The report concludes its findings in two axes, namely the affected sectors and then focusing on the conditions of three countries, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But we will leave our analysis here, and let the reader download the full report from the source.

However, to conclude, we will summarize the three general points contained within this report.

The first point relates to the exaggerated pessimistic view of the macroeconomic expectations, which has been coordinated by many media outlets and local economists. It’s expected that badly-affected companies that have suffered great losses during the pandemic may decide to surrender and sell their shares to major companies at a very low price. The negative expectations for the future of economic growth in the world depends on incomplete data such as the drop in oil prices. Many felt the drop in oil prices would continue; leading to a situation that threatens the whole global economy. However, oil prices have risen since the beginning of May and reached 35 dollars per barrel after the oil producers agreed to reduce production. There’s also been major economic restoration to mitigate the widespread closures, as has happened in China and European countries recently.

The second point relates to the growth in various economic sectors such as the pharmaceutical sector, medical supplies, and the software sector. With the potential for further growth within other sectors, such as the educational sector and the electronics production sector, many investment theaters will continue to expand rather than decline. There are also a number of underdeveloped economic sectors that are expected to have a leading position in the future, stimulated by the achievements of the fourth industrial revolution.

Third and finally, the startups in the region are built on fertile ground, full of investment opportunities and in which competition is weak and startups are encouraged by local governments. All of this leads us to conclude that the negative repercussions of this situation, due to the continued spread of COVID-19, also constitute an opportunity that can be exploited. Companies can use the ongoing scenario to learn how to adapt to the unusual conditions that are associated with low funding and weak demand. For example, many will benefit from the experience of crisis management while observing and learning from other startups that have managed to keep their business running, and in some cases, continued their expansion operations.