To encourage students to open their own business after graduation
A seminar on entrepreneurship and small business finance

Within the partnership program between Freidrich Naumann Foundation and Young Entrepreneurs–Palestine (YEP), a seminar has been organized on entrepreneurship and micro-finance for Birzeit University students, in collaboration with the Department of Business Administration at the University and the Palestine for Credit & Development "Faten".

 The seminar was held in Kamal Nasser hall in Birzeit University in the presence of about 120 students from different majors. The main concepts of the seminar were the practical aspects of entrepreneurship, in order to encourage students to take the lead and be entrepreneurs despite the difficulties facing Palestine today, as well as to guide the students on how to access sources of microfinance. Furthermore, presenting some experiences and stories of successful entrepreneurs.

 After a welcoming speech by Ms. Maysaa Barbar on behalf of the Business Administration department at the university, Mr. Hazem Kawasmi, President of Young Entrepreneurs – Palestine association, gave an overview on the importance of the entrepreneurship in supporting the national economy, especially in current situations. He urged students to plan for their businesses while at school to make it easier for them to start up their ideas immediately after graduation. He also expressed his hope that entrepreneurship can reduce the rates of poverty and unemployment, referring to the fact that entrepreneurship is a global fact that gets lots of attention in developed countries, and that Palestine is rich of successful entrepreneurs on a worldwide scale.

 Mr. Ghassan Amayreh, YEP Director, explained the role of the association in supporting the entrepreneurs and developing entrepreneurship in Palestine. He stated the different activities that YEP has established recently for the benefit of the young Palestinian entrepreneurs. Mr. Amayreh put the students in the picture that the Palestinian labor market can not contain this growing number of university graduates and encouraged them to depend on their energies and creativity to take the initiative after graduation and work to establish their small businesses according to their own interests.

Following that, Mr. Anwar Jayousi, the representative of Palestine for Credit & Development "Faten" talked about the role of micro-credit programs in supporting entrepreneurship. He explained some of the mechanisms of Faten’s work and the loan programs they offer, pointing to the importance of supporting the role of entrepreneurial women specifically. Mr. Jayousi also urged the students to take advantage of the opportunities and the establish their businesses, rather than complete dependence on the labor market.

 As an outstanding example of leadership, Emm Samer talked about her story and her growing ambition, how she started 10 years ago from scratch with a small canteen, and expanded her work and her vision and succeeded. Giving a credit to "Faten" for the several loans they helped her with, she also urged the students, especially females to take initiatives and start up their own projects to be able to achieve self-reliance.

Another example of a distinguished entrepreneurs in Palestine, YEP invited Mr. Subhi Al-Muhtadi a member of the Young Entrepreneurs–Palestine association to present for the student his success story, and how he built his foundation "Good morning for services" and evolved the idea and did his final seminar about it when he was a student at Birzeit University, and how he translated his idea after graduation and over the years into a successful project in spite of all the difficulties. He recommended the students to benefit from his experience and move towards doing distinctive businesses that fulfill the needs of the local market.

 From the Faculty of Commerce in the University, the student, Lubna Nasrah gave another good example of young creative Palestinian entrepreneur. She presented her own creative project which she is working on to achieve after graduating. Here comes the role of Young Entrepreneurs–Palestine association in sponsoring and providing the student with advice and technical support to assist in the development of different projects. Following the seminar a discussion with the students was handled by Professor Rana Jaber at the University of Bir Zeit. The students reacted very positively to the lectures given by YEP and FATEN and to the experiences of the entrepreneurs, and asked provocative questions as well. In conclusion, the day was very fruitful, and we can say that a serious partnership started already between Technical assistance (YEP), microfinance (FATEN) and the Academia (Birzeit University).