Leaders Organization (LO), a Palestinian NGO providing skill development and services to young entrepreneurs and startups, has launched an internship program aimed at linking graduates with local startups. 

Announced on September 11^th at a job fair hosted at eZone, Palestine’s mini tech park, LO’s director Shadi Atshan spoke to job fair attendees about the program. Funded by Spark, a local trade and investment company, and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the internship will be run through LO’s Creative Steps Project. 

The first of its kind in Palestine, the internship will be 13 weeks in total, and will provide recent university graduates with a paid opportunity to work with local startups from the FastForward Accelerator located at eZone. As well as enabling the graduates an opportunity to break into the job market with the appropriate skills, it will also allow the startups to build up their own workforce. The first 40 candidates will likely be marketing or IT graduates, “as they are the skills most needed by the startups we support,” said Ambar Amleh, LO’s Digital Entrepreneurship Programs Manager.

Established in 2002, LO has become a leading NGO in Palestine. Through two initiatives, the Digital Entrepreneurship Program and the Socioeconomic Program, it provides services to entrepreneurs and startups including incubation services, legal advice, and financial management support. Also under its administration is the FastForward Accelerator. Opened in 2013, FastForward is unique to the Palestinian entrepreneurial community. The latest additions to its funding program, RedCrow and BareedEE, will be benefitting from the interns, as well as Daleeli; eZone’s hosted companies Pinch Point, Store-E, ATB and iPhase will also be taking on graduates.