Residents of palestinian origin in the worlds (by Cecilia Baeza<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n Not only the community has a Wikipedia page<\/a>, it also has a significant impact on the country.<\/p>\n You may get a taste of it in times of conflict between Israel and Palestine. During the recent Gaza Strip issue, pro-palestinian demonstrations in Chile were among the most impressive ones in the World<\/strong>. In July 2014, even the Chilean government took position against Israel, and took the strongest action worldwide<\/a> by calling back its ambassador in Israel and suspending Free Trade Agrements negotiations.<\/p>\n Take something less polemical, like Football, and you will also see a tint of this old immigration wave. Palestinians in Chile founded the Deportivo Palestino, a football club<\/strong> in the 1920\u2019s which is today competing in First Division. Definitely means something in a country where Football is a religion<\/a>!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Club Deportivo Palestino, a 1st Division Football club founded by Palestinians in the 1920\u2019s<\/em><\/p>\n What\u2019s more, Chile counts with many prominent businessmen of Palestinian origin,<\/strong> such as \u00c1lvaro Saieh<\/a>, a billionaire owning the main media conglomerate of the country, Salvador Said<\/a>, who has participations in many listed companies.<\/p>\n But the question is: does this privileged relationship between Chile and Palestine have an impact on their startups ecosystems?<\/p>\n It might be.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lately the Diario Financiero<\/a> annouced that a Palestinian VC is looking for investors in Chile.<\/strong> It could be the starting point of an investment flow from Chile to Palestine, and there\u2019s a man at the center of it: Marcelo D\u00edaz Bowen<\/a>, well known for being the managing director of IncubaUC<\/a>, best startup university incubator in Chile and the sixth worldwide according to the UIB Index<\/a>.<\/p>\n Marcelo D\u00edaz Bowen, MD of IncubaUC<\/em><\/p>\n Marcelo is of Palestinian descent, and went to Palestine a few years ago to meet his family. As an entrepreneur and an investor<\/strong>, he obviously took the opportunity to check what was up in the tech world. After meeting with the main local incubator: PICTI<\/a>, he exposed in two major technology events in Ramallah<\/strong>: Expotech<\/a> and Celebration of Innovation<\/a>, and met the Chairman of the Bank of Palestina: Hashim Shawah, to talk about a project of fomenting innovation through investments in palestinian startups: Palestine for a New Beginning (PNB)<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The PNB idea is to create a fund that would financially support palestinian incubators,<\/strong> which are already efficient in the startup acceleration process, but lack fundings. PNB supervises the money spendings without getting involved on the operational level.<\/p>\n PNB also selects palestinian startups through Hackatons before sending them to incubators. They\u2019ve already decided to help a few non-copycat startups well adapted to local specificities, especially on cultural and religious matters. For instance, when FadFed<\/a> – an online platform for psychology consulting<\/strong> – was launched, they had to take into account two cultural facts: seeing a psychologist is not well seen especially if it\u2019s about matrimonial issues, and a muslim can\u2019t cover his or her face on video. By making consultation anonymous<\/strong> (the patient has the video off while the psychologist switches it on), they actually solve the reputation issue and help addressing marriage problems by making consultations easier and more acceptable by patients.<\/p>\n![\"Chile](\"http:\/\/innovao.cluster030.hosting.ovh.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Chile-Palestine-startup-diaspora-palestinians-south-america-innovation-is-everywhere-cecilia-baeza-3.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nPalestinian startups and investors in Chile<\/h2>\n
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