IPSD has the objective of improving economic opportunities for individuals and firms in the West Bank & Gaza. With support from the World Bank and implemented by DAI as a project implementing agency on behalf of the Ministry of National Economy (MoNE), IPSD aims to alleviate market failures related to gaps and binding constraints in the entrepreneurship ecosystem of the digital economy. As a response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent business dislocation, IPSD in cooperation with Finance for Jobs launched a support program to address the need to provide financial and technical assistance to affected Palestinian Startups, Early-stage Enterprises, and SMEs.
The Technical Assistance program was primarily led vis-à-vis training courses and peer group workshops to assist selected startups/SMEs in business crisis management and ‘re-tailoring businesses for a Covid-19 affected world’ by adopting mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as pursuing opportunities to align with growing businesses and industries, and identifying market gaps to expand product and service offerings.
The program grouped beneficiaries into small cohorts and led executive training and workshops centered around business crisis management, budgeting/financial management, crisis leadership, and business/strategic planning delivering over 90 hours of training with a hands-on approach requiring trainees to mirror the training to develop a high-level individual business plan. Beneficiaries were introduced to regional and international guest speakers and trainers; each training session combined multiple training tools including virtual sessions, coaching, peer-peer workshops, and more. Dimensions Team paid special attention to the most requested areas of technical assistance given its direct impact on the design of the training program tailoring the sessions to respond to the requirements of beneficiary companies.
We thank IPSD for entrusting Dimensions Consulting in carrying through the program and our participants for the level of commitment to complete the program successfully.
