US President Donald Trump’s announcement this week that he will lift sanctions on Syria has brought new hope to Syrian entrepreneurs.
Mr Trump made the announcement during his visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, prompting a standing ovation at the US-Saudi Investment Forum.
“The lifting of sanctions on Syria caused huge relief and I see it as a pivotal step toward revitalising the Syria start-up ecosystem,” says Khaled Moustafa, co-founder of local ride hailing app YallaGo.
“It will unlock our access to global markets, investment and digital tools that will empower Syrian entrepreneurs. We see this as a new chapter for economic growth and digital transformation in the region.”
The US has a complex mix of sanctions, terrorist designations and export controls against Syria that target sectors including banking and exports. While most of the measures were imposed following the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, some were in place even earlier.
In the 14 years of civil war, the country was torn apart by violence and destruction, forcing the closure of many businesses due to the loss of capital and staff. The UN estimates that more than 14 million Syrians have fled their homes since 2011.
Ahmad Sufian Bayram, an entrepreneur who was recently appointed as the adviser to the Syrian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, believes it is a good time for start-ups in Syria.
He created the Hack for Syria programme this year with 5,000 participants, mostly Syrians, to build tech solutions to some of the country’s most pressing challenges including health care, education and infrastructure.
“If we have to wait for international donors to come in, then we will be waiting for a long time,” Mr Bayram says. “We're talking here about speed of recovery, solving real problems that Syrians currently face and solving them quickly.”
Akram Bustati, founder of Study Loop, an education technology start-up that was one of 16 finalists in the hackathon, believes that lifting the sanctions will boost entrepreneurs.
“We knew that the lifting of the sanctions was coming, but we didn’t know when,” he says. “Now we are officially on the world’s entrepreneurship map. Wait to see what our youth will do.”
His edtech platform provides students with courses based on the Syrian national curriculum through its mobile app. “There are students who can’t afford education, either because their school has been demolished during the war or the school they go to is not good,” says Mr Bustati. “So, we want Study Loop to reach all homes.”
Riddled with challenges
Syria’s economy is riddled with challenges. It has been devastated by the civil war, with the UN's Development Programme estimating cumulative losses – including physical damage and economic losses – at more $923 billion at the end of last year.
Gross domestic product is forecast to contract by 1 per cent this year, from a 1.5 per cent decline in 2024 and 1.2 per cent a year before that, the World Bank estimates.
“On one side, we have a struggling economy, but on the other side, we have opportunities in advancing and progressing the economy, especially when we talk about small businesses,” says Khalid Al Terkawi, an economic researcher and founder of Thamar Consulting.
“Small businesses provide job opportunities, even if they only benefit the families who founded them. They also help revitalise the market.”
He says the sanctions have acted as chains to hinder the country’s economic growth.
“Entrepreneurs feel the impact of the sanctions when they start their own ventures, especially when they find that they cannot list their business on Google Maps, cannot update their computer programmes, and cannot transfer money for their business,” he says.
Restricting financial transactions makes it difficult for start-ups to raise funds or seek investment, especially from abroad. That is why many rely on bootstrapping or fund the start-up themselves.
With the lifting of sanctions, however, Mr Al Terkawi expects investments to start flowing back into the country.
“Entrepreneurs and business founders will benefit the most from the lifting of sanctions. They will be able to sell and export goods and services outside Syria, and investments in Syria should face no major obstacles in the future.”
Syrians returning
With many Syrians expected to return to the country from abroad following the change of government, there could be more opportunities to launch businesses.
About 400,000 Syrians have returned from neighbouring countries since the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, according to estimates released by the UNHCR last month. During the same period more than one million internally displaced people also returned home, it said.
This year, several conferences have taken place in Syria, connecting the Syrian diaspora to those living inside the country.
In February, the Syria Next Conference, which connects Silicon Valley and Syria’s emerging tech industry, saw hundreds of tech experts and several investors from the region gather in Damascus.
For the first time, the Arab ICT Organisation also held its regional conference on AI and entrepreneurship in Damascus, recognising the country’s strong tech community, in May.
“So, we are starting to see people coming in for those conferences,” says Mr Bayram. “They don't come just for the conference, they also come to meet people, meet entrepreneurs, check the reality on the ground, and see where the opportunities lie and how to benefit from it.”
Abdel Malek Al Mouzayen, co-founder of BeeOrder, a food ordering app and one of the more established start-ups in Syria, is seeking to bring in Syrians from abroad to join the company.
“Right now, we are expanding our marketing team, and we are thinking [about] how we can get some of those Syrian talents who are living outside to come to Syria and join our team,” he says.
‘Untapped market’
For many start-ups, the changes taking place in the country signify better times ahead.
“I understand that some people may find it a risky area, but as someone from the inside and as an entrepreneur, I’m seeing growth,” says Mr Al Mouzayen. “We have some dips here and there, we have some security issues here and there, we have some legal issues that need to be solved, but yet, there is growth.”
BeeOrder aims to increase its active user base from 80,000 to 1.5 million and to enter markets such as Idlib after operating mainly in Damascus, Latakia, Homs and Tartus.
YallaGo is also planning to expand to new markets in the next few weeks. Operating in Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo, it will soon launch in Daraa, As Suwayda, Latakia and other cities across the country.
According to Mr Bayram, the leading start-up sectors in Syria are technology, edtech and e-marketing. He expects agritech and green entrepreneurship to gain momentum as the country begins recovering from the war.
“Syria today is an untapped market," Mr Moustafa says. “There is a lot of opportunity to build and create.”
