ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Global Entrepreneurship, the week-long worldwide celebration of innovators and job creators, came to the Kurdistan Region for the first time on Tuesday, spotlighting two enthusiastic entrepreneurs, an investor and a mobile apps developer.
More than 200 people attended the panel discussion, which highlighted such things as the importance of entrepreneurship among university students and provided a chance for the audience to ask questions.
The audience heard personal stories and experiences of the local economy, and learned what public and private resources are available in Kurdistan to young innovators aiming for their own businesses.
Khaled Salih, vice chancellor of the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH), opened the forum by highlighting the impact of technology and markets on university education, and the importance of preparing students for the markets and technologies of the future.
“Change happens while we are in an education period,”Salih said. “If we want a better future for Kurdistan in terms of business and environment, it is time to create it together.”
Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is held around the world every year in November. It bills itself as, “a celebration of the innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare.
“During one week each November, GEW inspires people everywhere through local, national and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators,” the event says about its aims.
This is the first year it was held in Kurdistan, in a collaboration between the University of Kurdistan Hewler and the US Consulate.
Salih stressed that young innovators in Kurdistan should understand to value their ideas, because any one might be able to solve a problem.
“Today people are buying ideas before products, this is a new way of thinking and new way of capitalism,“ Salih noted.
“In this environment we need to have potential, and take all the opportunities to take Kurdistan out of the limitation, out of borders with innovators like you,” he added.
The idea of owning your own business and becoming your own boss has become the dream of youth in Kurdistan, leading to most believing they do not need education for entrepreneurship.
“The skills you might have today might not interest the market today,” Salih stressed.
The five innovators brought a wealth of stories, experiences and expertise to the audience as each shared the journey of becoming an entrepreneur.
“We gather under the banner of the Global Entrepreneurship Week to remind ourselves we have the power in ourselves to drive economic changes and improve our community," said Deputy Principal Officer Roy Perrin – who is currently US Acting Consul General in Erbil.
During the panel, speakers spoke about how entrepreneurship can launch an individual on a path to change the world, transforming not only his own life but of friends and community as well.
Perrin talked about the reasons for promoting entrepreneurship and its links with the international diplomacy.
The US diplomat focused on the strategies the Kurdistan region can adopt to respond to economic challenges, to hold ground while fighting the self-claimed Islamic State, or ISIS.
“Right now our first priority mission in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan is to defeat ISIS and provide aid to more than 3 million IDPs and refugees in Iraq and Kurdistan Region,” he said.
He said that the US would cooperate with Kurdistan and valued the energy and creativity of the innovators who aim to build economic prosperity in Kurdistan.
He noted that the Kurdistan Regional Government is facing “some real economic challenges.” But he added that, “many people worry about financially secure future in this region but there are many others who see great potential here.”
Entrepreneurs revealed the steps to developing a business idea: select a problem, study it and discover if this is what your market needs.
Others shared their greatest challenges.
For Talan Aouny, CEO of Erbil Man Power, the biggest difficulty in Kurdistan is finding qualified staff that is right for your business.
“Strong HR policy is very hard. It is very important to give the staff the sense of honorship, to make them feel like they own the business and they are responsible for it, to delegate authorities and come up with new ideas,” Aouny said.
Dawan Sulaiman, a motivated young mobile app developer and another one of the entrepreneurs, said that the lack of copyright laws in Kurdistan for software is another problem facing the “appreneur.”
“People in Kurdistan simply do not value the software,” he complained.
Entrepreneur and investor Zedbgai said entrepreneurship cannot simply be learned, and offered this advice for young self-starters: “You should not fear anything when you know your talent."
Hiwa Abdulqadir Bahaden, loan provider, echoed Zedbagi"s thoughts on the struggle of young self-starters, but said that although there are many obstacles, it is those obstacles that inspire.
Panel moderator UKH lecturer Neven Wali, who helped organize the entrepreneur event said, "I am proud to say that for the first time in Kurdistan with the collaboration of the US Consulate, I was able to bring global entrepreneurship week to Kurdistan. A small contribution is a great start for Kurdistan to participate in a global event."
At the end of the panel discussion, each speaker provided tips and encouragement to students and young innovators, reminding them that from small projects great projects are born.
Aouny expressed disappointment that most people in Kurdistan refuse to start in small jobs – as a step to better employment -- due to cultural perceptions. She had a message for young motivated innovators: “Be ambitious, do not be greedy and be patient, because success is not achieved over a night.
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