Entrepreneurship in Kurdistan Region & Iraq Panel at AUIS

The Institute of Regional and International Studies hosted a panel on Entrepreneurship in Kurdistan Region and Iraq during the Global Entrepreneurship Week on November 16th.

Global Entrepreneurship Week is the world’s largest celebration of innovators and job creators. Therefore, a group of the brightest Entrepreneurs in Kurdistan and Iraq were invited to share their experience with students at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani.

The participating panelists included:

Alice Bosley, Co-Founder at Five One Labs

Hallo Sagrma, Director at Indigo Canvas

Talar Noore, Founder and CEO at Worldwide Business Management

Rawaz Rauf from Hiwa Rauf for Investment and Development

Fatin Al-Weili, Co-Founder at Escape the Room Iraq

Bayad Jamal, CEO at Bayad Inc.

Hemin Askary, Lavazza Franchise

Hevi Manmy, CEO at Brsima and Bazary Online

The panel opening was attended by the president of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani, Bruce Ferguson; An educator, entrepreneur, and investor with a lifelong interest in technology-based innovation.

Then, the panelists continued the discussion by introducing themselves and their business emphasizing on the obstacles in Iraq for startups and how they have managed to overcome them.

One of the obstacles they all shared was the legal barriers in front of startups. Hemin Askary, Manager at Lavazza Franchise, Sulaimani branch, said that he was dealing with laws and regulations from the 70s. Hevi Manmy, founder of Bazary Online and Brsima, with a bit of a laugh commented “I was dealing with nothing” as there are not any laws to register online businesses in Iraq and Kurdistan Region.

The panel was followed by a Q&A session and it was a great opportunity for a social interaction and networking among participants and the panelists.

Below are some photos of the event.

AUTHOR

Hero Rafaat