A Supportive Neighborhood for Young Businesses

Think growing a business is all cutthroat competition? Try rapport, curiosity and care instead, says Luma Saqqaf. A veteran financial lawyer, Saqqaf just launched a revolutionary business mentoring community aimed at maximizing the development of young businesses in Palestine, Jordan and other underperforming economies. Currently in its pilot phase, Jeeran, or “neighbors”, has so far paired fledgling entrepreneurs in Ramallah and Jerusalem with business experts in the Gulf who serve as their mentors.

“The power of what I’m creating is that I can connect people in remote areas with others on the outside,” Saqqaf explains. She was inspired to create the program while volunteering as a mentor for C3’s social enterprise classes, during which “it became obvious how much need there is for business mentoring.” The mentor’s role is “to open channels for [new entrepreneurs], challenge their assumptions, and teach them how to make decisions—to be a thinking partner, not an answering machine.”

For more information: Check out Jeeran.