Palestine—Innovative Private Sector Development (IPSD) project

The digital economy of the Middle East is changing. Across the region, planners have recognized the stagnation in old economic structures, moving entrepreneurship to the top of their economic policy agendas. Shackled by physical restrictions on the movement of goods and labor and low levels of investment due to suboptimal investment climate circumstances, the Palestinian economy suffers from low growth and high unemployment. To break through its economic shackles, policymakers must create the right enabling environment and financial support to facilitate vertical progress. Stimulating the emergence of an effective entrepreneurial ecosystem offers one of the most promising mechanisms for creating such progress, precisely because the nature of Palestinian economic challenges cannot be addressed through incremental gains.

With support from the World Bank and on behalf of the Ministry of National Economy, the Innovative Private Sector Development (IPSD) project works to alleviate market failures related to gaps and binding constraints in the entrepreneurship ecosystem of the digital economy including in human capital, financing, product markets, enabling policies, institutional support, and connectivity.

Ramallah from on high. Photo courtesy: Flickr.

Sample Activities

• Improve linkages to regional entrepreneurship ecosystems.
• Develop a dynamic startup finance ecosystem with a core focus on organized angel investing.
• Build a new automated and unified business registry system.
• Create a home-based business framework.
• Develop an outsourcing model and pilot expanding an existing organization in Gaza.

Select Results

• 857 graduates completed market-driven training providing them with improved economic opportunities (44 percent female).
• 79 beneficiary firms raised nearly $33 million in private investment (27 female-owned).
• 103 firms received catalytic funding and market access grants from IPSD allowing them to pursue opportunities in markets outside of Palestine.
• Managed the implementation of the newly launched Automated Business Registration System for the Palestinian Authority that makes starting and operating a business easier, allowing entrepreneurs to register and manage their business registration online, access essential information, and streamline operations.