Among the fruits of the partnership between The Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia and Basra governorate, is the Basra Business Incubator.

The Basra Business Incubator was opened last December to help young people kick-start their projects and their future careers. The incubator -the first of its kind in the region- will serve as a place where young people come to nourish their creativity, brainstorm together and receive proper business training and consultancy from experts to turn their ideas into actual businesses. The incubator, which will be managed by a business-management-trained local team, is also equipped with the necessary tools such as computers to printers for the young participants to realize their business plans and organize their projects.

The participating projects will be chosen through a contest. After an online announcement, around 230 young people applied with project ideas. During the first round, 50 projects were selected, which then become 25 in the second stage. These 25 contestants will go through training to improve their projects proposals and business plans to enter the next contest round.

Out of 25, 10 winners are selected. The winners will be the first people to get support in the incubator that will pave their entrepreneurial way and monitor their progress.

The projects ideas range from photography and e-commerce to sustainable environmental solution and renewable energy, to name a few.

This cooperation is part of the “Supporting Recovery and Stability in Iraq Through Local Development” programme, implemented by UNDP and funded by the European Union.