Google's business in Palestine!

Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Palestinians have the opportunity to build something for the Arab World, and that's were Google takes place and helps it grow!

Gisel Kordestani, Google's director of new business development, with Mercy Corps senior director Andy Dwonch. | Photo by Kobi Kalmanovitz

Kordestani has traveled the world for Google and now separates developing nations into two buckets: lands boosted by outsourced jobs and self-starting ecosystems of entrepreneurship. It's a lot like comparing India to Singapore.

"Singapore is much more technically advanced," she says. "They have huge Internet penetration. They have prosperity in the upper to middle classes, whereas India still has a massive poverty problem. I'd like to see the Palestinians leapfrog India to become Singapore."

Gisel Kordestani says:
Palestinians have such a unique position. They're well educated. They have strong English-language skills. With 88 million people in the [Middle East and North African] region getting online, they have the opportunity to build something for the Arab world.

When the iPhone 4S came out, the news landed with a thud in Palestine. A local startup, Gsoft, had been selling Monica, a voice-activation program similar to Siri, the one Apple bought and integrated into its new phone. Now Gsoft was in trouble; its big idea was outmoded.

But in a still-young community like Palestine's, this wasn't considered a total failure. It meant they were on the right track. "Even if you open 100 good small businesses, only 10 persons will succeed," says Dawabsheh, who was Gsoft's social-media marketing manager (and has since left for a telecom company). "We should keep on coming up with ideas. We should be more patient."

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