Over the course of over a year, GIMED has accompanied more than 35 projects in Palestine with a high social and environmental impact from their early-stage ideas. The main goal of the support given by the project was to strengthen transversal knowledge and skills and facilitate access to finance. Among the 20 participants that joined a pitching event held on April, 21st of 2022, 4 were selected to access a grant of 7,500 euros for the development of their project in Palestine.

Leaders International has been the partner providing the training and coaching services for young entrepreneurs, carried out within GIMED, the EU-funded project under the ENI CBC Med Programme. From these green and social entrepreneurs, there are ideas in various fields such as textile and clothing, recycling, IT and new technologies or sustainable food and agriculture.

The selection of winners was made by a panel of trainers composed of internal and external multidisciplinary experts, who evaluated them on the basis of the path followed, the growth prospects and the potential for developing future synergies. The winners will have 6 months to use the received funds, under the supervision of Leaders. The 4 grants will be used by the selected entrepreneurs to cover specific technical needs related to business creation pre-identified during the training and coaching sessions.

Winners of the early-stage ideas category:

• Re-Love: it promotes the ability to purchase high-quality used clothing at affordable cost, thereby extending the lifespan of each product made by fast fashion firms. By extending the life of fabrics, less water, materials labour and CO2 will be used, which will result in fewer detrimental activities for the planet.
• Shop Fever: it is a mobile application that links sellers of used items that are in good condition with buyers who would be interested in purchasing them in a fast, secure and efficient way. The application depends on the geographical location of the user and displays the good according to their proximity.
• Sharqi Palestine: this project aims to reduce the use of plastic by emphasizing the use of ecologically friendly plastic substitutes. For this purpose, they produce eco-friendly, recyclable and reusable bags.
• Dreez: it works on extending the shelf life of agricultural products by preserving it to be useful for a long time and in different temperature conditions without using any preservatives or chemicals.