Exchanges are creating Iraqi changemakers

Over the past 10 years some 3,000 young Iraqis have travelled on exchange programs funded by foreign governments, and it’s some of their finest who are driving the country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem forward.

Iraqi diaspora such as Murtadha Al-Tameemi of Fikra Space, Bilal Ghalib of GEMSI, Katr El-Nada Hassan and Ali Hilli were catalysts in launching entrepreneurship movements, but it’s Iraqis at home who are driving those efforts forward.

In 2003 several foreign governments reintroduced their degree and non-degree cultural exchange programs to Iraq for the first time since 1990, when sanctions were laid against the country.

They include general programs such as the Fulbright program, Germany’s DAAD, Britain’s Chevening and the EU’s Erasmus program; country-specific ones such as the US-sponsored Iraqi Young Leaders Program (IYLEP); and region-specific course like the Swedish government’s SHE Entrepreneur program.

The programs are working

Hussein Al-Azzawi, Startup Weekend Co-Organizer, was 30 years old when he was selected three years ago to be an adult mentor for Iraqi teenagers in IYLEP.

“Recently you can see and notice that these programs are paying off. Most of the activities now in Iraq are led by one the alumni,” he told Wamda. “Exchange programs give you the push to be [an entrepreneur]. They build leadership skills and confidence… they encourage students to follow dreams and work hard to achieve them.”

Original article by Marwan Ahmed

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Exchanges are creating Iraqi changemakers