So what happens in reality?<\/strong><\/p>\n When it comes to the hijab,\u00a0young Iranians can be very creative<\/strong>. Even though by law, women should behave and dress modestly in public by covering their hair, arms and legs, it is not always the case. Young Iranians are exposed to Western culture and media through satellite television and the Internet and don\u2019t let the restrictions stop them, especially in modern cities like Tehran. In many places, women tie their hair in a very high bun and drape their hijab in a way that leaves much of their hair on display. The bazaars even sell fake bun extenders. You can see some examples in this photography project called\u00a0Your Veil is a Battleground<\/a>.<\/p>\n As far as alcohol is concerned, it is actually\u00a0fairly easy to find & drink\u00a0alcohol within the country<\/strong>. There is a large black market for alcohol illegally imported from neighboring countries (Kurdistan, Armenia) and many Iranians drink a kind of homemade vodka known as arak sagi, or \u00ab\u00a0dog sweat\u00a0\u00bb. Based on statistics available in 2011, every year around 60 to 80 million litres of alcoholic drinks are smuggled to Iran, an equivalent to $730m. \u201cThe relative ease of obtaining alcohol \u2014 and the vast quantities available \u2014 have led many analysts to believe that Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps and other elements of the government actually\u00a0profit from the illicit trade<\/a>, among other banned industries,\u201d Memarian\u00a0wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a country full of restrictions, Iranians have found ways to\u00a0stretch the rules and think outside the box<\/strong>, whether it is for the hijab, alcohol or through coding: let\u2019s not forget that an application helping students to cheat during exams was developed during\u00a0Startup Weekend Shiraz<\/a>! All of these examples demonstrate their\u00a0entrepreneurial mindset and expertise at \u201chacking the system\u201d<\/strong>: this is a real cultural asset, that other countries don\u2019t necessarily have.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s next for Iran?<\/strong><\/p>\n First, it is clear that as the country opens up,\u00a0angel investors or VCs<\/strong>\u00a0will be able to come to the country and\u00a0support local hackathons<\/strong>: for example, we can imagine some themed\/niche hackathons around education, health or even environment issues will take place that will solve real pain points for the country.<\/p>\n Secondly, if the government decides to embrace this entrepreneurial mindset, it could collaborate with hackers and makers<\/strong>\u00a0to enable more government innovation. Hackathons could be used by the Iranian government as a way to bring a group of people together around an issue that needs to be fixed: by stepping out of the way, they could let people come together to solve problems in creative ways that they would have never been able to do and think of themselves. This has been done in other ecosystems, such as the US (New York<\/a>) or India (Delhi<\/a>) and has been very successful.<\/p>\n Finally, Iran could turn its \u201clost generation\u201d of\u00a0engineers into an innovation asset<\/strong>, as we suggest\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0Exciting times!<\/p>\n![\"Martin](\"http:\/\/innovao.cluster030.hosting.ovh.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Iran-veil-3.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n3 Steps to Tap into Naturally Entrepreneurial Iranians<\/h2>\n