Ezra is a Palestinian-based start-up whose main goal is producing scalable fully automated plant-growing systems that can fit in any house. These hydroponic units can be displayed in any room of people houses: the backyard, the roof, the balcony or even hanged from the windows. “Our impact on the society is increasing the net income of each person having our product”, recognizes Saleh Abuali, the entrepreneur behind the project. 

Besides, the agriculture start-up also enables small Palestinian farmers to yield more fruit and vegetables with less cost and fewer chemicals than traditional methods. In this sense, Ezra’s team is composed by mechanical, mechatronics and agriculture engineers. Before joining GIMED project, Ezra was at a design phase waiting for support to start their prototype. “We invested from our own money to build the prototype and move as quickly as possible to create the final product and introduce it to the market”, states Abuali.   

Ezra shares that the high-level coaching given by GIMED, thanks to the Palestinian partner Leaders International, made them start having a clear idea about desired achievements and how to get there. “I’ve learned so much about building the business model of our project”, shares the entrepreneur. “It helped me figure out about the problems that we might face in the road of building our start-up, and how to avoid some of those problems or even make a benefit from them”, he adds. 

The entrepreneurs behind this Palestinian start-up attended GIMED training, that helped them to create the mission and vision and set up the main goals. It also helped to determine the customers, cost and revenues and the added value from the project, focusing on the sustainable development goals during each phase of the project. 

Between the main issues they faced during the establishment of the project, Ezra points out the availability of electronic components as something that tested them out. They are working to get the best and more optimum design for the project and to make it as green as possible, so with any doubt that would be the main challenges that Ezra has onwards.