“Instead of Being Helped, Refugees Are the Ones Doing the Helping”
What if we turned the tables and started looking at refugees for the talent they have, instead of the things they they need? We meet Mursal Hedayat, founder of the EdTech startup doing just that. By SWB Team Summer is officially over. This month, children across Europe start the new school year. But a crisis …...
The Startup Roadshow Has Begun in Lebanon – and You Can Still Apply!
The competition for Syrian entrepreneurs in the Middle East has just started the first of its startup bootcamps in Lebanon, as 20 teams of brave startups battle it up to pitch at the finale in Amsterdam. Twenty teams of valiant Syrian entrepreneurs have just taken to Beirut Digital District, where the Startup Roadshow kicked off the...
Could This Be the Middle East’s Own Lush?
Yasmeen Smadi meets Samah Kheir El-Zein, the Syrian entrepreneur pioneering locally-made organic skincare products in Egypt. by Yasmeen Smadi Samah pours the green mixture into the small, heart-shaped moulds as the voice of her children playing sings in the background. Her organic skin-care products, which she makes at home, emanate a...
Techfugees Is Launching its Annual Summit Again Next October
Techfugees Summit
The Startup Roadshow Is Looking for Syrian Startups Across the Middle East
The Roadshow is selecting Syrian startups for 5-day bootcamps across 5 cities in the Middle East and the chance to pitch at the finale in Amsterdam. The Startup Roadshow, a competition for Syrian entrepreneurs in Turkey and the Levant region, is taking to 5 cities, from Amman to Erbil, to Beirut, Istanbul, and Gaziantep, to …...
This Entrepreneur Invented a Device that Helps Parents Track their Children through a Chip in their Shoes
Syrian entrepreneur Raafat Hantouch turned a dramatic childhood experience into an innovative tech solution that is now making waves in Germany. By Valentina Primo and Maysaa Ajjan That day, the Damascene market bustled with busy consumers hustling their way to buy Syrian specialties. But for one mother, the experience became a painful...
A Walk Through The Netherlands’ Brimming Refugee Startup Ecosystem
Azrin Rahman takes us on a walk through The Netherlands’ refugee startup ecosystem, listing accelerators, incubators, and bootcamps for bold go-getters. By Azrin Rahman Boasting 20% of migrants amongst its population, the Netherlands is full of opportunities which turn its capital, Amsterdam, as well as its major cities into a...
Are You Based in London? TERN is Kicking Off a Business Workshop
TERN’s 6-Day Workshop
Consensys is Launching the First Blockchain Bootcamp in Lebanon – And Refugees Get Tickets for Free
ConsenSys, the global hub developing blockchain technologies, has just announced the launch of a 3-day blockchain developer training in Beirut, followed by a 2-day hackathon. The training, which starts on October 17th, will offer in-depth training sessions, from the workings of blockchain technology to its applications and...
Meet the Entrepreneur Connecting Syrian artisans in Jordan with Markets Abroad
By Yasmeen Smadi It’s Monday evening and I’m driving through the streets of Amman, the windows rolled down to enjoy the spring breeze, as I head off to the city’s Business Park to meet Saleem Najjar, the co-founder of Sharqi Shop. Sharqi Shop is a market place that enables Middle Eastern artisans to sell their …...
“This is the Positive Consequence of War; Women were Forced to Get Out of the Cocoon we Were Living in”
We speak to Souad Mohamed, the Syrian power woman who transformed personal trauma into a tale of leadership. by Yasmeen Smadi and Lenah Hafez Souad strolls around the Greek Campus, her brown backpack on, filming every detail of the all-female conference She Can, that is taking over the largest tech valley in the Egyptian capital....
New in Lebanon? Here’s a Guide to the Levantine Startup Ecosystem
From funding opportunities, to accelerators and co-working spaces, Azrin Rahman takes us through the startup ecosystem in Lebanon. By Azrin Rahman The startup ecosystem in Lebanon has been growing since 2014, when Banque du Liban began the program Circular 331, in hopes of boosting the ecosystem with $400 million capital. With its...
Become a Migrapreneur with ME4Change in Italy, Finland, Germany or Belgium
ME4Change has just opened applications for their Migrapreneurs program, an entrepreneurship training course for participants to gain practical knowledge in starting their business. The course will start in spring 2018 and will be delivered by highly qualified trainers in the city of Milan, Helsinki, Berlin and Brussels, with some online...
UK’s Centre for Entrepreneurship Released a New Report on Refugee Entrepreneurs
In March 2018, the Centre for Entrepreneurs – the UK’s entrepreneurship think tank – published ‘Starting afresh: How entrepreneurship is transforming the lives of resettled refugees’. The report makes a compelling case about why refugees possess many entrepreneurial traits, how they can contribute to the UK as business...
After a Bomb Goes Off, Families Cannot Pick Up the Phone. But this Migrant Entrepreneur is Changing That
Human bodies as routers? According to Syrian entrepreneur Abdulrahman Alashraf, this technology could help people communicate during emergencies. by Shadw Helal and Valentina Primo ‘’In Syria, the military disconnects all mobile networks, the internet, the electricity, and people are completely isolated – they open it after few...
