Entrepreneurs, business owners gain data analysis skills in continuing education center course

Thirty Palestinian entrepreneurs and small-to-medium enterprise owners discussed how to collect and analyze data to grow their businesses in a training course organized by Birzeit University’s Center for Continuing Education that began on Saturday, June 19, 2021. 

The training course, comprising 45 hours, is part of the center’s “Data for Fair Development” program, which focuses on equipping Palestinians with capabilities in the fields of data processing and artificial intelligence to take part in the fourth industrial revolution and use the tools that it offers to secure a fair and equitable development process in the digital world.

Marwan Tarazi, director of the Center for Continuing Education, stressed the importance of gaining data collection and processing skills in the 21st century, especially for startups and small-to-medium firms in Palestine and the region. Keeping abreast of the latest technological advances, added Tarazi, has become a necessity as the global shift to digital tools and resources increases in pace and scale by the day. The center, he noted, has developed many courses, workshops, and programs to guide the Palestinian community through this shift, such as the “Data for Fair Development” program, which is implemented together with the International Development Research Centre. 

George Yerousis, director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Unit at Birzeit University who led the training course, said that few Palestinian startups use data analysis and processing tools to improve and streamline their operations, despite the fact that using such tools will help them maintain a foothold in the market and expand to new areas. The training course, he added, will present entrepreneurs and business owners with the skills to use data tools to their advantage whether in local, regional, or international markets. 

As part of the “Data for Fair Development” program, the Center for Continuing Education has organized several training courses, workshops, and seminars on how Palestinians can keep abreast of, and take part in, the digital revolution and set the country’s national digital development strategy. 

The center, as part of this program, has held a series of discussions and seminars that aim to spread awareness and information about the digital world, covering topics such as financial technology, data and health, cybersecurity, and the digital future of Palestine. The center has also launched an intensive digital application training program for students and experts alike in information technology, health, human rights, media, banking and finance, business administration, law, and education.