One of the major hurdle faced by Palestinians is unemployement. In the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, scores of educated youngsters find themselves jobless right out of university. However, Palestine is emerging as a dynamic hub for tech talent, as Palestinian universities usher in a new generation of connected and ambitious Palestinian youth.
This article will highlight three websites on which you can hire Palestinian tech talent. Palestinians diasporas worldwide are constantly searching for ways to help back home; a great way to do that is by empowering talented Palestinians by making them a part of your business ventures. Make no mistake, this isn’t a charitable move. It’s a way to hire excellent tech talent for your business while promoting efficient diaspora engagement.
We have already talked about Gaza Sky Geeks on numerous occasions, but they are worthy of the praise. GZK is a start-up incubator/outsourcing hub in the Gaza Strip. They take in and train young talented Gazaouis through their Code Academy, which provides soon-to-be developers with over 1,000 hours in training.
Not only that, but future developers are also trained specifically for the intricaties related to remote work. All developers are proficient in English, and have training in businesse related matters. As GZK states, “our developers are remote-first, resilient, and ready”.
GZK’s developers pride themselves on always being up to date on the latest technologies/programming languages. Their coders operate in a variety of fields which include the many listed below.
Gaza Sky Geeks’ talent is trusted by many top-notch companies, ranging from Google to Zain.
By hiring with GZK, not only are you getting access to some of the most talented minds on the markets; you are also contributing to the emergence of Gaza’s promising tech sector, boosting the economy and allowing Gazouis to showcase the full breadth of their talent.
In the words of CEO Daniel Easterman, “Palestine Tech Jobs is a jobs board and online community aimed at connecting Palestinians in the tech industry with job opportunities in the UK and other developed markets.”
The platforms aims to connect talented Palestinian developers with contractor job opportunities abroad. The platform’s extremely simple and clean interface makes it easy for everyone: companies post jobs, Palestinians apply for them. Hiring Palestinian tech contractors is compelling for a multitude of reasons, which the company outlines in its blog. First, the Palestinian tech market is abundant in highly educated, yet reasonably priced developers. For that reason, companies can get the same talent, at a lower price. Second, the Palestinian tech sector is extremely gender inclusive; 52% of Palestinian developers are female, compared to 13% in the UK for example.
While payment might have previously been perceived as a barrier, new services such as Payoneer and World Remit are leading the way in making paying Palestinian contractors way easier.
Palestine Tech Jobs also offers other services, such as a Facebook page where more opportunities are posted, and a newsletter to get updated on developments in the Palestinian tech scene. Companies pay to post their job offers, but the wide network of potential tech talent makes it worthwhile. Palestinian companies also get half-off.
Upwork is a freelancing platform, on which individuals or companies can hire contractors for a variety of projects. While it isn’t specifically geared towards Palestinian freelancers, it has a whole page dedicated to them which you can check out here. Not only that, but Palestinian freelancers on Upwork are extremely well rated. Out of 8,600+ reviews, Palestinian freelancers have received an average rating of 4.9/5.
Compared to the two previous platforms, which are very tech-oriented, Upwork hosts a vast array of Palestinian freelancers, ranging from video editors, to translators, to civil engineers. If you are not an institutionalized company, but rather an individual looking to get a quick job done, we definitely recommend you check out Upwork.
Other similar platforms that host Palestinian freelancers are truelancer and freelancer
Manara is a start-up aiming to connect Palestinian software engineers to remote job offers from abroad. Manara identifies 4 main reasons to hire tech talent from Palestine: social impact, women in tech, diversity and strong education.
We identify and thoroughly vet undiscovered talent. You hire them directly for onsite or remote jobs, diversifying and accelerating your team.
Manara works hard to get you the best software engineers in Palestine; their vetting process goes as follows:
Check out Manara’s website here, or follow them on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Bonus
Multiple Facebook groups have emerged to facilitate the hiring of Palestinian talents. Here are a couple, recommended to us by Taysir Shaqalaih, one Gaza’s tech outsourcing ecosystem pioneers.
Peeks: Peeks is a community-based grassroots organization that contributes to the development of a sustainable knowledge-based economy in Palestine and focused on empowering technology entrepreneurship by engaging students, professionals, industry experts, and ex-pats through events and activities that are widely-accessible and highly-collaborative. The goal is to facilitate a creative collision of ideas and experiences, encourage collaboration, openness and trust, expand exposure to emerging world challenges, and foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
بدك آي تي مان ؟ : This group curates a bunch of self-employement postings from the Gaza Strip.
In conclusion, Palestianian talent is abundant, across all sectors. The rise of the freelancing and remote work world, exacerbated by the current sanitary crises, only reinforces an already booming sector. By directly hiring and working with Palestinians, diasporas can help contribute to their home country by actively participating in the development of its economy.
Who are we?
GrowHome is a platform connecting diasporas to entrepreneurs back home. The problem we’re trying to solve is twofold: on one hand, diasporas often gain professional and financial resources abroad which they want to share with people back home, but they have no easy way to do so. On the other hand, entrepreneurs in emerging countries have incredible talent, but lack access to business opportunities. On GrowHome, diasporas can mentor, collaborate and fund entrepreneurs from their home countries.
We are launching our BETA product in Jordan and Palestine. Visit our website www.growhome.app and sign up for our BETA waiting list, either as a diaspora or an entrepreneur.
To get updated on our progress, follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube.
Listen to our podcasts on Spotify.
