How freelancing is giving Gazans hope during war | The National

It’s been five months since Hiba Al Tibi, a 32-year-old divorcee, started freelancing at Taqat, a business incubator and co-working space, in Gaza city. Working as a graphic designer, video editor and data entry specialist, she spends about eight hours a day at the space completing assignments for clients in Egypt, Sweden and soon France.

Ms Al Tibi decided to freelance soon after her divorce. With both her daughters living with her ex-husband, she wanted to find a way to improve her situation.

She earns about $150 a month, but with the prospective client in France, she hopes to increase that to $450. Her earnings help to support herself and her parents, whom she lives with in a damaged home in Gaza city.

“Working has helped take me out of the mood I was in,” she says. “It took me out of my head. My biggest struggle was not being able to see my daughters. I’m now working to better myself so that when they come, I will be able to take care of them.”

Working online is not new in Gaza. The territory, which has endured an 18-year Israeli blockade and is often referred to as an “open-air prison”, has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. The rate was about 45 per cent in 2022, according to data from the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics.

With limited employment opportunities, many people have turned to online work. Before the latest war began on October 7, 2023, an estimated 30,000 young people in Gaza worked online in roles such as developers, designers and marketers, according to Taqat.

But when the war started, many lost their contracts, almost overnight. Essential infrastructure was destroyed – electricity, water and gas – leaving many with no internet access and more importantly, no home.

‘Life of dignity’

Sharif Naim, chief executive and co-founder of Taqat, was among those who lost his work contracts. As the owner of a software company before the war, he had a team of programmers who worked for businesses in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Germany.

“When the war started, all these contracts unfortunately stopped because our work relies on electricity and a stable internet,” he says.

“We also had to leave our homes. We needed to leave the north of Gaza and go to the south, settling in Rafah. We were not thinking about work at the time, we were thinking about surviving.”

An estimated 90 per cent of Gaza’s population of about 2.1 million people has been displaced, many of them several times, according to the UN.

Mr Naim was among the lucky ones. He was able to rent a flat in Rafah and to buy a small solar panel, with the help of a family member, to start working again.

“It was difficult for us to accept the reality of sitting in a tent or a home, and waiting for aid to come,” he says. “We had to take a step to try to resume our normal lives, and live a life of dignity.”

Mr Naim began working remotely for his employer in the UAE as a programmer. After sharing his experience on Facebook, he received many messages from friends and colleagues asking about how he found work. This prompted him to seek out ways to support others.

He approached potential donors and was granted a small sum to open a co-working space. But in April last year, he had to flee again with his family, this time from Rafah to Deir Al Balah, where he opened the first branch of Taqat.

“We found a place, the second floor of a villa, and dedicated a room for us to sleep in,” he says. “During the day, we would run the co-working space, and at night, we would sleep under the desks.”

The turning point came when Taqat received a generous donation for a solar power system, which enabled it to serve up to 70 freelancers. Through its business incubator arm, it provides job matching, outsourcing, and staff augmentation services, connecting Gaza talent with companies across the globe.

It was also able to open two more branches, one in Gaza city and the other in Nuseirat, serving a total of about 300 freelancers daily. While the company relies on donations for expansion, it is also aiming to become financially sustainable.

“We try to make people feel that there is still hope for life. It’s not only about money. When people come to work, they feel that they are alive once again,” Mr Naim says. It “makes them forget how they used to be before the war”, he adds.

‘Expiration date’

But freelancers are also struggling in Gaza.

Mohammed Hajja, founder of Gaza Education Hub, a co-working space for students and freelancers, says life is extremely tough as people struggle to get food and water.

“It is life that has reached the end of its expiration date,” he says. “The main source of food for us was through the Rafah border. Now that it’s closed, we rely on what’s available and stored. So, we pay so much money for food. To eat, you have to pay. Gaza has become the most expensive place in the world.”

According to the UN, more than half a million people in Gaza are suffering from famine. Although aid has been trickling in – 205 lorries of food and medical aid have been dispatched from Egypt to Gaza this week – it is insufficient compared to the 500 aid lorries that used to enter Gaza daily before the war.

Yet, Mr Hajja is still working at the hub, providing electricity and internet to about 100 people daily. He also works as a freelancer, providing accounting services for clients in the Gulf. Although he would like to provide more services, such as skills training programmes, he fears being displaced again.

“We plan to provide training eventually, but honestly, the situation is difficult,” he says. “There is fear of being displaced again from Gaza. So, we may not be able to continue working from here, but from somewhere else. If we establish more centres or training programmes, we might lose money, so all plans have now stopped.”

Building for the future

Despite the situation on the ground, freelancing is perhaps the only sector providing a glimmer of hope to Palestinians.

In a recent report by Mercy Corps, the ICT sector, comprising mostly freelancers, start-ups and remote workers, contributed about 4 per cent ($641 million) of the total Palestinian gross national product – the total amount of factor incomes earned by the residents of a country – in 2022.

While this figure may not seem like much, the report argues that it does not take into account the unreported revenue earned by freelancers and small businesses.

For example, Gaza Sky Geeks tech hub graduates in 2022 alone are forecast to have earned a total of $20 million in 2023 by offering their services online to global markets, according to the Mercy Corps report. Meanwhile, freelancers and online workers at Taqat are estimated to earn a total of $500,000 a month, according to Mr Naim.

He wants to grow Taqat to become a fully fledged ecosystem for freelancers, remote workers and entrepreneurs. He believes that the freelance market will become one of the most important sources of revenue for the Gaza Strip in the next few years.

“Our true wealth is in our youth and in our people,” says Mr Naim. “We can rebuild, stay on the land, and return to work once again. I’m investing in this. I’m not only thinking about overcoming this difficult situation, but I’m building for what’s after.”