Green Solutions Bootcamp

The Green Solution Bootcamp was conducted through collaboration between the Global Shapers Gaza Hub and Green Knowledge Community (GKC) which is a non-profit community.

GSCamp main objective is to come up with ideas that will improve the quality of life of Gazans through establishing startups with social impact especially in the field of agriculture and environment. The specific objectives of the event are:

• To raise awareness about the agricultural and environmental challenges


• To introduce 13 teams to the field of Entrepreneurship


• To enhance the youth’s skills in how to establish their own business


• To brainstorm and generate startups with social responsibility impact


• To decrease the repetition in startups’ ideas through targeting specific fields that don’t receive much attention.

Actors and resources:

Global Shapers Community – Gaza Hub: Seven experts from the hub had volunteered to co-organize the event and dedicate their time for the success of it.

Green Knowledge Community: based on their vision of a green environment and economy, they also supported the implementation and outreach of the event.

Additionally, more fund was needed to support the best project ideas and deliver coaching and follow up sessions for them to ensure their sustainability and reach more target. For this purpose, Islamic Relief-Palestine believed in the idea of the bootcamp, its uniqueness, vision, and other aspects. Therefore, they agreed to support best three ideas of the bootcamp and co-sponsored the event along with the grant from Fulbright community action grant.

Implementation

GSCamp consisted of three intensive days of knowledge sharing, mentorship, technical and business coaching, and pitching was held during 13-15 March, 2017. Over 100 national and international experts attended the opening of the bootcamp where the 13 teams provided their elevator pitches.

The third day of the event was the BIG day. All 13 teams pitched their ideas in front of 5 expert judges to market their project and convince the panel that they deserve to be selected.

Top three project ideas were selected to receive the fund each of an average of USD 7,000 based on their bill of quantity and needs. The selected ideas are;

• Hypo Farm; they work mainly on hydroponics farming philosophy


• Shaba AlA’mal; they manufactured toys through recycling wood


• Basata; they manufacture furniture through recycling wood