Gaza epilogue

The challenges

Gaza is like a big, open-air prison camp, run by the inmates. It is surrounded by either water, or a long running barrier, preventing anyone from entering or leaving, except through a handful of border crossings, tightly controlled by either Egypt or Israel. The goals of the two countries are different, but both seek to undermine Hamas, in control of Gaza since 2006 elections.

While the list of restricted goods allowed through the fence has gradually been eased over the last few years, the effect has been to make it extremely tough to start any sort of business in Gaza. There is little opportunity to export any manufactured goods, and it is all but impossible to get a visa to visit a customer. While most goods cannot be exported, there is one exception: electrons. And so Gaza Sky Geeks was born.

Mercy Corps is generally not in the business of providing business opportunities for middle-class and upper middle-class youth and, let's face it, that's where the majority of the in-residence entrepreneurs come from, but in this case they made an exception. The reason is that the region is such a tinder box, so dangerous, and so easily provoked into violence, that the feeling is that an outlet, any outlet, is a positive influence.

My Israeli friends often ask me, "Is there hope? Or, do they hate us too much?" There is a lot of hate and a lot of history and the prospects do look grim, at least for a generation or two. But, that doesn't mean there are a ton of things that can be done to move in the right direction.

The first is that Prime Minister Netanyahu has to learn to keep his mouth shut. If he can't find it in himself to overcome his prejudices and reach out like his predecessors, he can at least not say provocative stuff at the worst possible times. We may not achieve world peace, but we don't need to be starting new fires in the middle of a burning region.

For the rest of us, there are little things we can do. I'm not under any illusion that Sky Geeks will singlehandedly create peace in the region, but it can move the needle a little bit. When mentors come and go, they leave behind a bit of good will and lots of fond memories. They allow businesses to be a little closer to sustainability, inspiring other young would-be entrepreneurs to give it a try rather than sit around and think dark thoughts.

The businesses

All this would sound condescending, except that these are real businesses, which would pique the interest of an investor anywhere, not just in Gaza. For example, MockApp has built a sophisticated prototyping tool for website designers. While these exist, MockApp has the unusual ability for the designer to work in English (best for working with teams of developers), while showing the results to a client in Arabic (essential for the non-English speaking Arab world). I am not aware of any other tool with these properties. If they can get it in the hands of their potential customers, they will do well. And that is where the mentors can help tremendously.

Another example. 5QHQH.com is a website and mobile app for user-generated humor in the Arabic world. Yes, of course people make jokes and laugh in Arabic. Yet, when they try it on an English language website, such as 9gag.com, they get driven off by racist comments. Plus, the right-to-left nature of written Arabic poses a special challenge to user content. How do you get an LOL-cat cartoon to line up properly? Or, just simply make the caption look good?

That's just two examples of the dozen plus companies I ran into during the week.

It's a long, long way to travel, but I hope to be back!