Sanja Milosavljevic: Hello, my name is Sanja Milosavljevic and I’m going to be your host today. Today, my guest is one really special lady. She comes from Palestine, her name is Dina and I hope you’re going to enjoy our conversation. Hi Dina, how are you?

Dina Abu Shaaban: Hi, fine thank you, how are you?

Sanja Milosavljevic: Well, I’m fine. It’s winter time in Belgrade, so not my favorite season of the year, but I am actually doing quite fine. So, Mondopreneur is a podcast and we are trying to share stories of successful ladies from all over the world. And the two of us, we met during our visit to the States, IVLP program and I find that your story is quite interesting. First-

Dina Abu Shaaban: Thank you.

Sanja Milosavljevic: You’re welcome! First, I never heard about a woman entrepreneur from Palestine. That was my prejudice because I probably wasn’t reading enough or researching enough. And the second one – your startup and your business is very interesting. So can you please introduce yourself, can you tell us something about yourself? Like what is your educational background, what do you do at the moment, what is your business and what are your future plans?

Dina Abu Shaaban: First, I would like to thank you for selecting me to participate in your podcast. I am really happy to be with you. My name is Dina, I have a masters in Business Administration and Bachelor’s also in Business Administration. I worked as an employee at different companies either full time in Palestine or as a freelancer in companies in other countries. But as of 2016 I’d like to utilize my education and business experience to start my own business and have my own company. So I participated at a competition that was funded by Mercy corp company institution and I have the award as one of the best five startups. It started to act 2016, targeting the Palestinian diaspora who live outside Palestine and like to share their love and happiness with their friends and families, sending gifts to their loved ones in Palestine. Gradually my startup started to expand and have different representatives in different countries in order to enable also Palestinians who live also in Palestine or any Arabic country in order to send gifts for their families and friends for their special countries such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, also Belgian Canada. I have representatives approximately in more than ten countries. Also Monasabat enables more than 10 persons either men or women to participate with their work as for example wooden gifts, embroidery etc. to make combination of the special gift and a beautiful package which sent for example one lives at Qatar and delivered at Gaza. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: So you have people actually- what are they, freelancers working for you? You outsource. You don’t have a storage space or you don’t have a- I don’t know, a company with a company building, you just have-

Dina Abu Shaaban: Yes, my company is located in Gaza. I have showroom which is considered one of the biggest showrooms in Gaza. And there is gifts developed daily at our company and we have a service for delivering the gifts either in Gaza or the cities around it. So, we just mainly- the location of company is in Gaza, but we have more than 10 freelancers as you called them to make the gift or to be responsible to make the gifts in their countries. For example, one lives in Saudi Arabia and would like to send a gift to someone in Jordan, so I’m the organizer for this business process and a person or the freelancer at Jordan can develop the gift and make deals with their delivery company. The flowers for example show up and are delivered at the home of the reception. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: That’s nice. So you basically run that company for 4-5 years?

Dina Abu Shaaban: Yes, approximately, yes.

Sanja Milosavljevic: And can you tell us did it- you said it gradually increased, but can you tell us if something changed during this COVID period or this pandemic period. 

Dina Abu Shaaban: Yes, it’s true that this pandemic affect at our work process. Especially when we should keep our homes and not go into our work, everything is closed so we can’t deliver any gifts during this period. For example we are working in Gaza, we are working and our business is open. But for example in Jordan they’re closed and people can’t go out from their home. So we can’t have orders for sending gifts or delivering gifts in Jordan. But maybe we work partially at for example Palestine, the United Arab Emirates, Belgium and Canada. So this affects us. Also, when we closed at Gaza for short period, the Jordan opened their markets and everything working good. So this affect our process, but I try to make balance in order to not affecting bad at any person work with me and also utilizing our available resources to make other people happy.

Sanja Milosavljevic: So did you have to transform a lot or did you have to transform just pieces of your business process? Or did you have to actually, I don’t know, reinvent your business model and business process? 

Dina Abu Shaaban: Yes, I tried to reinvest my business process and modify it according to this pandemic. For example when the country is closed there is nothing we can do. Because everything is closed – shops, delivery companies, people can’t go out from their homes. Mainly the main effect when we at Gaza stay at our homes and can’t go out in order to make our works because the main business is available here. And the main management of the business process is here. But we can- for example when there’s a time to go out from our homes I can utilize this time, for example three hours at morning to go and open the company and deliver the orders, receiving money from the customers, giving orders to my team. Work mainly to manage the process, rather than expand my business or thinking in the future. Just have orders and sending it and make all the team safe and not affecting bad any person working with me.

Sanja Milosavljevic: So you said that everything was in lockdown in Palestine, in Gaza and that you couldn’t go out. How did you manage? Did you have any time during the day when you could go out and buy groceries? Because if the delivery services are not working, who is going to deliver main necessities? How was that?

Dina Abu Shaaban: Maybe we- all the people and companies closed and all people stayed home for approximately two weeks in Palestine. During these two weeks we can’t do anything, just staying at our homes, but after that is gradually opened for delivery companies, for supermarkets and pharmacies and for commission shops in order to utilize their time and enable them to have money. So we mainly focus on delivery, not- there’s no people available at our shops and not accepting visiting people at our shops because it’s not accepted as rules at our city. So mainly I provided or developed the packages of gifts and contacted the delivery company to send one car in order to have orders for one time in order to limit contacting with many people or crowded places. So this is in Gaza, but regarding sending gifts outside, I send a car – for example for customers at their home in order to collect the money and give them a bill that they pay for us in order to send gift for example to United Arab Emirates or Canada and we manage the business online with my team. For Western Union Transfers I go and have it from the offices during the time that we can go out from our home.

Sanja Milosavljevic: What are the measures? What are the prescribed measures? For example in Belgrade we have to wear masks in closed spaces. The restaurants are working until five o’clock, shops with groceries are working until maybe eight o’clock. We have to disinfect our hands. So what are the measures in Gaza, in Palestine? Do you have to wear masks when you go out?

Dina Abu Shaaban: Yes, we have to wear masks. And the people who don’t wear it pay money as a punishment for not going with the rules. Also, hygiene and everything needs to avoid this virus COVID-19. We can do- we follow these rules for our health and not affecting my dad or my mom.

Sanja Milosavljevic: So do you have a large number of people affected or is there a small number?

Dina Abu Shaaban: So generally in Gaza there is a huge number. Daily approximately 900 people have the virus. But from my family there’s no one. My close family, or my small family there’s no one. But for example my friend, my colleagues at my company there’s two people who have COVID-19. It’s bad effect for your mind and your emotions to hear that this is have a virus, this is- don’t have money, his work is affected because of the pandemic. So this news makes you very sad and not working with your enthusiasm and to be happy with your work. You just finish tasks to keep safe and have money.

Sanja Milosavljevic: I know. I understand, I agree. I exactly know what you are talking about. One thing is just to go to work and totally different is when you hear-

Dina Abu Shaaban: You hear just bad news! There is no happy news. Not just hearing bad news, this affects you and your emotions. All of us are not comfortable with this.

Sanja Milosavljevic: So did your government have some plan to help small scale businesses or large scale businesses or entrepreneurs? In Serbia we had that they prolonged the payment dates for our taxes, for dues and taxes. So did you have any kind of help from the government.

Dina Abu Shaaban: Maybe our situations make the efforts of government doubled. Because there is not enough money and enough equipment for keeping all people healthy and- but they exerted their efforts and warn the people how to deal with COVID-19, how to avoid this disease from themselves and their families and how to the other companies. Maybe they focus on the awareness and really the incubate we can say families who have persons with COVID-19 through sending for example health teams to check up and know the stage of the disease at his body. They have people at the hospitals who need really special care for example. They make a really big effort but it is still not enough regarding our- the abilities available here in Gaza is limited. Not as other countries. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: So you as an entrepreneur, you had to pay even though you’re working in smaller scale now? You had to pay your monthly dues towards the country, towards the public funds? So there is no excuse, no prolonged period, there is no any kind of help, no?

Dina Abu Shaaban: No.

Sanja Milosavljevic: No? That’s bad. But how do you manage? If the shops are closed and the people don’t have money, how did you manage to survive? Because this is the 9th month of this pandemic period.

Dina Abu Shaaban: Maybe I tried to develop new products targeted at just Gazans, who live in Gaza. And they need to stay at home for a long time and to make- to have something make them happy. For example I developed a design for a cafe corner, or cafe corner and it sold with huge quantities. Really, I was surprised for this demand. Because all people are living in their homes and need to make anything to cheer up themselves. So we work to make products, not to expand markets and targeting new customers. No, just making products and promoted for the families here. And focusing on delivery. So this makes us continue to work and gain money during this short period. Especially maybe the total closed is temporary. Not for a long time, just two weeks. But the other periods it’s temporary were for example from 9AM to 6PM. So, it’s not 100% closed, so we try to manage this business according to our situations.

Sanja Milosavljevic: Well this is perfect. Is somebody helping you in developing new product, or was this just your idea?

Dina Abu Shaaban: Maybe the main idea was from me, but there is a team that’s very creative and try to design, modify the design for each other and try to add something to the main idea. And this team who worked for this products, not me, just maybe- I’m responsible for sending, promotion, contacting the customer, managing the delivery process, packaging for them. So, but the main idea and the managing process is from me and the execution for this idea is from my team.

Sanja Milosavljevic: Your team…do you- have you developed any other product like Coffee Corner? 

Dina Abu Shaaban: We make a special-

Sanja Milosavljevic: Something that is completely new?

Dina Abu Shaaban: Yes, special mugs with 3D characters so that everyone can- especially the winter makes us enable to have new products which is suitable with the weather here. So we need coffee, we need tea, it’s suitable the cups, the Coffee Corner and also the gifts of winters. So we collect the gifts from one person and deliver it to another home because nobody can visit each other at this time. So the people sending gift are the same city but through delivery only. So it’s make a nice effect and makes other happy – either the sender or the receiver.

Sanja Milosavljevic: That’s smart. That’s very smart. Can you tell us something about the media and the way they are addressing this pandemic in Gaza. Are they open, are they sharing information transparently or are they hiding something?

Dina Abu Shaaban: Yes, they share information very well and daily. There’s reports published on the social media and the main media companies or channels so we know how many people are affected with the virus daily. How many people have bad situations, how many people did and what’s the new procedures based on each stage. And also approximately every two weeks there is a main speech from responsible people from the Ministry of Health to share with us information and really follow up daily this data to make us aware of the surrounding environment and how to deal with this pandemic effectively. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: And you trust them? You trust them, you-

Dina Abu Shaaban: Yes.

Sanja Milosavljevic: That’s good. Because sometimes I don’t trust our media when they are sending information. I know, I know-

Dina Abu Shaaban: Maybe, maybe there’s some information not 100% right, but approximately there’s a clear image for the situation. Because it’s recorded by photo and recorded with speeches by the patients and their families. So everything is clear. So either they try to hide something for the benefit of us to not know this, to make us calm and not be afraid every time. So maybe they try to make us not affected badly and to not affect ourselves with this bad news. But in general it’s surrounded environment and this pandemic is in all the world, not just in Gaza. So we need to deal with this, there’s no other option.

Sanja Milosavljevic: I know, it’s- everywhere is the same. Okay, so is your health system prepared for this pandemic? Do you have enough hospitals, enough beds in hospitals, do you have enough equipment to help people who are really in a bad state?

Dina Abu Shaaban: Maybe we have shortage in the sector of health in Gaza in general. This is in general, not just the pandemic. But maybe when the pandemic started in the world, we heard it started from China and then the other countries, here the Ministry of Health started to equip for the time receiving this- or having this pandemic COVID-19 in Gaza. So they tried to develop the needed equipment, trained the- made training courses online for their doctors and their health ministry, the Ministry of Health. So they tried to keep pace with the experiments also of the other countries in order to deal with the pandemic within this shortage and this city which is not equipped very well as other huge countries.

Sanja Milosavljevic: Oof, that’s harsh…that’s bad. Can you tell us something about the state of entrepreneurship in Palestine, in Gaza?

Dina Abu Shaaban: Maybe the entrepreneurship in Gaza is- there’s many, or- there’s a many well efforts exerted in this sector. Because there’s no options regarding the graduates. For example there’s no employment right now. There’s no employment at the companies. Maybe this problem is in all the world because of this pandemic also. But in general there’s a lack of opportunities to be an employee. There’s two options only – to be entrepreneur or to be freelancer. Or to open small business. For example mini-markets or- for example to be- just for small businesses. There’s no employment at the main meaning for employment. So because of this situation there’s really a big efforts to affect and encourage graduates to be entrepreneurs and to make their businesses because there’s no other options. So there’s a lot of courses. There’s- we have approximately three incubators here in Gaza and every year there’s programs to fund 10 or 20 successful startups here in Gaza. So there is something very good and make us encouraged to really survive and still expanding and working on our businesses.

Sanja Milosavljevic: So are they giving your some incentive like money, or do you receive mentors and mentorship help and helping to develop business plan – what kind of help is there?

Dina Abu Shaaban: When I had the award in 2016, I received money to make the website of Monasabat and making my team and design, logo, etc. My work just online- was online and then I started to after finishing the incubation time I still contacted with my mentors and asking them to have their advices and how to work on my business when I have some problems. And then I work on- I tried to keep working with myself and not having other money from any incubator because I’d like to just expand my business, not working as an entrepreneur in incubator. Other entrepreneurs working as entrepreneurs in incubator, not a business owner. So no, I’d like to be a business owner, but there’s opportunities for anyone who’d like really to be a business owner and to work on themselves to make a business and open their companies. They can, but with their efforts, not just having money or mentorship is the solution.

Sanja Milosavljevic: So what are the- in what industries or in what branches are the startups or the small scale businesses or the entrepreneurs? Is it the food, or is it in tech or is it something like that? Where do you find them the most?

Dina Abu Shaaban: The small-scale businesses working in producing foods or desserts for example. Working on makeup, cosmetic products also. Other working in the field of freelancing too. So for example designs for foreign countries, companies, selling websites, developing for example applications for mobiles. Mainly those sector working effectively here for entrepreneurs.

Sanja Milosavljevic: So is it common for women or girls to start their own businesses?      

Dina Abu Shaaban: Yes, they started their businesses heavily here in Gaza. Many people think that the women here are not working and there’s an image that the women in Gaza can’t work because of the situation here. But that’s a wrong thing, there’s approximately more than 50% of entrepreneurs here are women and it’s common to have women entrepreneurs. Simply last week there’s a woman who opened a mobile phones shop here in Gaza and the media had a big coverage for her showing how she started this step and how she opened the store, I’m really proud of her. So there’s a very big percentage regarding women entrepreneurs available in Gaza especially and in Palestine generally.

Sanja Milosavljevic: So when I read your CV I noticed something  very interesting. It’s something like women-empowerment or something like women’s forum or some kind of a- can you tell us something more about that? What is that and what was your goal in it?

Dina Abu Shaaban: There was a community for just women entrepreneurs to mentor them, to encourage them, to match them with the funded institutions in order to make their businesses. Mainly we focus on the tech companies and the small businesses like the cooking businesses and dessert developing businesses – the small ones. My role was I was a board member for short period but unfortunately I can’t continue because of my work situation. It’s mainly to make programs for training them, to have a community where they can have any advice they want at any time. There’s not just workshops or training to have solutions for their problems. Also we can match them with funded institutions and enable them to gain money to start their businesses, so it was a very nice experiment for me. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: Is it easy to start or establish a company in Gaza? In terms of bureaucracy and in terms of- I don’t know, do you have to deposit some money when you open or when you establish a company?

Dina Abu Shaaban: I think at this stage it’s not very easy. Not just in Gaza but in the world because of the current situation and because of the COVID-19. Or maybe the- very quickly changes in the technologies and the demands of people, the behavior of customers is different from one second to another. So it’s not easy in general to open a company and in Gaza also it’s not easy at all because of the current situation. Maybe the economic bad situation here in Gaza. So the main thing you can do is to know the demand of the customers and what you like and what you know how to do. This two main factors that you can from them be able to work on your company. To know what your customer want and how to do something. For example during the last period or maybe this year, a lot of delivery companies opens here. Because they know the people have a limited travel and transportation now, so the main demand is to travel, or to deliver their orders and to have a delivery options for them in order to have their needs and products they want. Also the supermarkets activate the delivery options. So from that demand of the customer and their want- they know how to deliver this product or know how to deal this process, they can open a business and work effectively better than maybe huge companies for example for home appliances.

Sanja Milosavljevic: So when you say that in that community that supports women, they can get some money – what is the amount of money they can get?

Dina Abu Shaaban: Maybe some of them have 2000 dollars, some of them have 5000 dollars based on the competition and the amount of funds for example. We work according to this – there’s also the size of a business for example. For example when one would like to have making something it needs for example 1000 to have machines for making ingredients mixed and have some equipments to help them make this dessert, so they need small amount of money. Compared to for example one would like to make a website, and mobile application and have for example special technology to make their business so they need for example more than 5000 dollars, up to 10000 dollars.

Sanja Milosavljevic: So, what are your future plans?

Dina Abu Shaaban: My future plans maybe based on the pandemic not available. When it finished we can think of future plans. But maybe the business holder of Monasabat which delivering gifts not depending on the physical location, enable us to expand easily and make the gifts delivered easily. Maybe everything is closed but the delivery is still available. So maybe our work is not affected 100% so we can start still working on the same level and really hope to have a physical branches on other countries, also based on the situation of the pandemic now. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: Let’s say that this is not going to last forever. It’s going to end at some point. When I think of my future plans, I think they’re going to realize after this pandemic, so of course I am making plans. We came to the end of our conversation and I like to ask my guests to just send a message to other women or other entrepreneurs in the world. So what would be your message?

Dina Abu Shaaban: I would like from every person and especially every woman to work in what she loves to work and believe in her dream. Not to let other or surrounding situations affect her negatively. Every sexes should have many troubles and many obstacles, but if you believe in your dream you will go to it and achieve it.

Sanja Milosavljevic: Thank you for your time, thank you for staying up a bit late to do this conversation with us. Thank you for sharing your story and your insights about the state of entrepreneurship in Gaza and in Palestine. Dear people of the world this was Dina from Palestine, Gaza. I hope you enjoyed our conversation. If you like, you can always follow us on social media like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. You can listen to almost all audio platforms, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel. So stay good, stay in good health and see you in a week.