Startups Without Borders and Facebook Launch Training Programme

Cairo-based global entrepreneur platform for refugees and migrants, Startups without Borders, has teamed up with Facebook to launch ‘Boost with Facebook’. The initiative is a training programme aimed at supporting emerging entrepreneurs and founders as they brace their ventures from the ongoing economic repercussions brought on by the pandemic, but bolster their standing as business owners.

The joint programme aims to be a holistic SME recovery platform; offering training in a variety of digital skills to entrepreneurs in the MENA region that have fled their countries of origin, and have now founded a business or an initiative in the Middle East or Europe.  

“The pandemic has put us all entrepreneurs in a difficult situation. But through those months in quarantine, I was amazed at how migrant and refugee entrepreneurs persevered and didn't lose focus, utilizing social media to sell their products,” Valentina Primo, founder and CEO of Startups Without Borders tells Startup Scene. “We are living through a historical moment, where digital marketing is a must for businesses big and small. We want to support migrant and refugee entrepreneurs in doing what they do best: reinventing themselves.”

As industries worldwide tackle the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic during the first half of 2020, marketing has also had its tides shifted. Marketers are now manoeuvring an entirely new outlook on how to utilise digital platforms to market their brands. A recent research has shown that 61% of marketers are altering their short-term media strategies to better fit the constantly evolving state of the post-corona consumer and the spaces they occupy.  

“We know that small businesses are experiencing unexpected challenges during the outbreak of COVID-19 and we’re committed to providing as much support as possible,” said Ramez Shehadi, Managing Director for MENA at Facebook. “We have an important role to provide the necessary digital skills for startups and SMBs to survive, recover and pivot online.”

The training sessions will be virtual, with the last phase meant to take place during the Startups Without Borders Summit 2020. The annual summit’s theme this year will be an apt ‘Brave New World’, with experts all convening to host, both, an online and offline event that bands aspiring and established entrepreneurs. The program will launch on September 1st  and is open to migrant and refugee entrepreneurs just starting out, based in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Italy, UK, and the Netherlands.

You can apply now, in English or Arabic, right here.