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Gazan women surge ahead with startups

Young, educated women in the Gaza Strip are among the most likely to be unemployed in an area where nearly half of people are out of work, as many of these women are now turning to business incubators to find funding and support to build their own businesses.
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The unemployment rate among Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip has risen in the last decade. A sharp rise was witnessed after Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2006, making it difficult for many Palestinians to secure jobs. However, business incubators such as the one at the Islamic University of Gaza have provided pioneering women with the chance to start their own independent projects, making them leaders in the world of business, namely in the technology field.

Rana al-Qirnawi, 25, did not wait for her graduation from university to arrive at the bitter reality that she would not find a job, despite her creative capabilities in computer engineering. Qirnawi believed in her abilities and started searching for funding for her idea to establish a specialized company in web development. It was then launched by one of the business incubators in Gaza.

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