Dubai – Sharikat Mubasher: Talent Acceleration Platform (TAP), a Palestinian / Dutch initiative, announced raising $1 million in funding to scale its career acceleration programs.
With the new funding round, supported by Wamda Capital, the World Bank, Loyal VC, and angel investors, TAP plans to expand its reach and scale its programs to train over 1,000 graduates annually, according to a press release.
The company is also building an edtech platform to make its offerings more scalable and personalized.
TAP’s mission addresses two critical challenges which are the high youth unemployment rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the talent shortage in Europe and the U.S.
The MENA region faces a daunting employment challenge, needing 300 million new jobs by 2050 to accommodate its growing youth population. In Palestine, where TAP launched in 2022, unemployment among university graduates under 30 exceeds 40% and is even higher for women at over 60%. Meanwhile, Europe’s job market struggles with a record 6 million vacancies, highlighting a global mismatch in talent and opportunities.
TAP bridges this gap by providing 16-week online educational programs that prepare young people in fragile parts of the MENA region for remote careers in fields like software development, sales, and digital marketing. The curriculum includes technical training and “Power Skills” such as communication, networking, and critical thinking. Over 80% of the more than 100 graduates since 2022 are now employed full-time, working with companies across Europe.
Fadi Ghandour, executive chairman of Wamda Capital said: “Young Palestinians require new skill sets to fill the demand gap for tech talent globally. TAP is uniquely positioned to achieve this.”
Christian Vezjak, TAP’s co-founder and CEO, emphasized the broader vision: “We plan to turn TAP into an ecosystem creating thousands of jobs, enabling high-potential youth to access the opportunities they deserve.”
Currently active in Palestine, TAP aims to expand to other MENA countries, further contributing to economic empowerment and bridging global talent shortages.
