Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-06-10)

Bloomberg Businessweek | Sooner Than YouThink June 10, 2019

T

hesceneplayedoutmuchlikeyouseeontelevision,

onlyscarier.It wasMay2017,anda fightbetween

youngPalestinianmenandIsraelDefenseForcessoldiers

brokeoutona streetinRamallah.A handfuloftroopswere

barricadedbehindtwomilitaryvehiclesstoppedin themid-

dleoftheroad,andnowandagaintheyoungPalestinian

menwouldrushup,slingrocksatthesoldiers,thenretreat.

Thisback-and-forthwentonfor 20 minutesbeforethe

youngstersgrewmorebrazen,lightinga dumpsteronfire

andpushingit towardtheIDFposition.Standingamidother

onlookersona dry,scrub-coveredhillabout 100 yardsaway,

I wonderedwhatwouldhappennext,whena floodofIDF

soldiersappearedoutofnowhere.Theypepperedthearea

withrubberbulletsandchargedthePalestiniansandthose

ofusonthehill.Peopleranforcover.Theacridsmelloftear

gashitnostrils.Ambulancesreversedinhastewithbleed-

ingrockhurlersinside.

I dashedfromthehillandmademywaythrougha few

cityblockswherepeopledrankteaoutsidecafesandtried

toactasif nothingoutoftheordinaryhadhappened.My

destinationwasLeaders,a kindofindustrialparkforstart-

ups,whichhada bannerdayplanned.PatrickCollison,

thebillionaireco-founderoftheonlinepaymentcompany

StripeInc.,hadcometoRamallahtospeakwithyoung

entrepreneursabouthisexperiencebuildinga startupand

abouthowtechnologycouldbringthemeconomicoppor-

tunity.Dozensofpeoplepackedtheconferenceroom,

manyofthemArabsfromEastJerusalemwhoneeded

towaitforseveralhoursatsecuritycheckpointstohear

Collison.Thered-hairedIrishmanbeganbyapologizingfor

notspeakingArabic,thenexplainedhowhe’dgrownup

ina ruralsettingandcouldperhapsrelatetoa feelingof

isolationandthestruggletomakeanimpactontheworld.

“Thereisthatsenseofcomparativeinferiority,”hesaid,

recallinghisownchildhoodinDromineer,a villageincen-

tralIreland.“Youareclearlymuchlesssignificantthanthe

bigger forces around you.”

More than a third of the attendees were women. One

was the founder of a Middle Eastern online lingerie com-

pany, Kenz Inc., that counts Saudi Arabia as its largest

market. Another worked as the chief technology officer for

RedCrow, a service that alerts people to attacks and vio-

lence happening near them. One person everyone wanted

to know was Dina Zabaneh, a connector who had her fin-

ger on the pulse of the Palestinian startup world and knew

all the major players.

I spent a couple of days with Collison visiting start-

ups and investors in Ramallah. Their stories were inspiring

and heartbreaking. Some of their hardships—the violence,

the walls and fences, the travel restrictions—were obvi-

ous. Others were not. Israel has banned 3G networks in

the Israeli-occupied territories, which has forced people

to develop smartphone apps on old technology and then

head to hilltops to find a faster connection and to test how

By Ashlee Vance

The world is full of

innovations more

important than ad

algorithms. You just

need to look outside

Silicon Valley

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