Palestinians visit a special bazaar called “Creative Land” at a hotel in Gaza City, on March 21, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)
A Palestinian woman participates in a special bazaar called “Creative Land” at a hotel in Gaza City, on March 21, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)
Palestinians visit a special bazaar called “Creative Land” at a hotel in Gaza City, on March 21, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)
A Palestinian man participates in a special bazaar called “Creative Land” at a hotel in Gaza City, on March 21, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)
For three days in a row, Ruba al-Kurd, a young Palestinian woman from the Rafah city in southern Gaza Strip, has showcased her hand-made artworks at a special hotel bazaar for creative products.
Dubbed “Creative Land,” the bazaar enabled the 20-year-old student of fine arts from a local university to sell hand-made artifacts and paintings to earn money. Otherwise, al-Kurd only sells them via social media as a way to cover some of her expenses at the university.
“I have gained an appropriate number of customers, but I was not able to reach the entire Palestinian public in the Gaza Strip, so I joined this fair in order to further market my products to the local population,” al-Kurd added.
About 70 entrepreneurs and business owners attended the trade fair in a hotel, which was co-organized by the Phoenix Advertising Company and the Palestinian Eyes Foundation, a local non-governmental organization.
Hadeel Hammad, an organizer, said the bazaar was a platform for young entrepreneurs, who mostly operate e-commerce via social media, to explore offline business opportunities with customers directly.
Yasmine, 21, also tried her luck at the bazaar promoting her own skincare and cosmetic products.
The college graduate said she ventured into the business and launched the brand “Jasmina” in January 2021 after failing to find a job.
“I developed specialized skin and hair care products with natural materials,” she told Xinhua, saying her products are promoted for research-based manufacturing and therapeutic effects.
“I have been working for a long time to build a network with my clients, but that isn’t enough for me, especially because I want to compete with the commercial brands,” she said.
Hammad told Xinhua that due to the high unemployment rate in Gaza, many young people resort to opening their own businesses at home.
The organizers, through hosting the bazaar, want to send a message “that the youth of the Gaza Strip are not unemployed or helpless, but rather a great number of them are innovative, whatever simple project it may be, they are capable of transforming their lives for the better,” she added.
A report issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2021 showed that 53 percent of young people in the Palestinian territories were unemployed. In Gaza Strip, the figure stood at 67 percent, more than two-thirds of whom were female.