The Bethlehem Business Incubator and Yunus Social Business Center at Bethlehem University held the “EntreprenHer challenge: Women and Social Entrepreneurship” on campus on Friday and Saturday, 27-28 May 2022 in which 54 Palestinian women entrepreneurs participated.
The event aimed at inviting women entrepreneurs with social entrepreneurial ideas or existing businesses to work together over two days. Participants joined a discussion with two successful social entrepreneurs, Ms. Sally Shami from Jerusalem, founder of “Salam.ps”, and Ms. Maali Diab from Tulkarm, founder of “Muffaker” who shared their experiences as Palestinian Social Entrepreneurs.
The event included intensive sessions on social entrepreneurship, developing the Business Model Canvas (BMC), and how to present business ideas. At the end of the second day, all participants presented their ideas/businesses to two judging committees. The first committee from the BBI evaluated the business aspects of the ideas and the second committee was formed by both social entrepreneurs “Sally & Maali”, representatives of the Youth Advisor Panel (YAP), and the Yunus Social Business Center.
Based on the evaluation of all ideas, 3 ideas/businesses won the challenge: Ms. Samah Ammar and Ms. Saba Radayde (Luminous Cement), Ms. Tahani Musleh (Recycling Fabric), and Ms. Asmahan Sunkrot (Talleh). The three winners will get the opportunity to be incubated at the Bethlehem Business Incubator – BBI and Yunus Social Business Center – YSBC.
This event was held as part of the Start Your Business project which is implemented by VIS Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo, in partnership with CISP Sviluppo dei Popoli, ActionAid Palestine, Bethlehem University, Salesian Vocational Training Center, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Comune di Milano, and funded by the Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo AICS Gerusalemme.
