“Startups are the best solution to provide job opportunities for youth”

The Entrepreneurs Forum was held last month in Sana’a, Yemen. The forum called on young entrepreneurs and startups to reformulate their corporate goals in line with the needs of society at present and market requirements. 

Startups are the best solution to provide job opportunities for youth and eliminate unemployment in all countries. The expanded meeting entitled “Hackathon for Startups” brings together more than 50 young companies working in the field of technology and entrepreneurship.

The Hackathon event called on local organisations to allocate part of their savings to support startup projects in order to serve the growth of these companies and help in the sustainability of local organisations. 

The Hackathon called on young entrepreneurs to enhance their skills in mobilising resources in order to achieve external financing opportunities, of which Yemen is one of the target countries of its funds. 

The participants were also called on to create a legal framework for the registration of startup companies in an easy manner and to preserve their future rights in the ownership of these companies – and to engage them in external partnerships optimally.

The Hackathon advised Yemeni investors inside and outside the country to establish investment portfolios with venture capital to invest in startups that have reached the stage of growth and expansion according to modern international frameworks.

It called on local and international microfinance funds and programmes to adopt a financing strategy for startups as an important future asset for the national economy, and a real transition towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

In the morning sessions, Dr Adel Abdullah Salah – one of the founders of a startup company in Yemen – reviewed a working paper entitled “Fundamentals of Resource Mobilisation for Emerging Companies – What I Learned in Silicon Valley.”

He spoke about the factors for the success of the project and the most common mistakes committed by entrepreneurs. He presented his experience of visiting Silicon Valley in the USA and the experience of establishing the icontact startup company for young American Ryan Ellis. 

In the second morning session, an open discussion session was held with the participants led by Dr Adel Salah, founder of Portal 365 Company; Adeeb Qasem, entrepreneur and founder of a number of startups; Dr Sharaf Al-Kebsi, Executive Director of the National Foundation for Microfinance; Eman Al-Maqtari, entrepreneur and the founder of Eshobbak; and Hussein Ahmed, the founder of Mocha Hunters. 

During this session they talked about the areas of opportunities and challenges for establishing startups and optimal financing methods and their companies’ experience in finance and the mobilisation of finance for small startup businesses.

In the evening, participants were divided into three workshops to discuss three main subjects – resource mobilisation for startups led by Dr Adel Salah and Ali Sherwan; e-marketing by Eman Al-Maqtari; and programming and technology problems Fadi Aswadi.