WISE Profile: Mai Abu Thra’a
A new member to the TYO family is Mai Abu Thra’a, joining us through the WISE program.
From Beit Furik, a village near Nablus, Mai, 23, is a young, driven entrepreneur. Having graduated from An-Najah University in 2010, she studied IT purely out of her love and interest for the topic. Knowing that she always wanted to have a business, she and her brother joined forces and just registered, Standro, their tech solutions company, in the Czech Republic. Under the umbrella of Standro, they plan to have many different projects. Currently, she is working on the first one called Dalili, a search engine for discounts and in the future, for purchasing. However, Mai decided that first, she should get proper training in running a business in order to make sure everything works smoothly. She began collecting information and working on a business plan in August when she joined the WISE program, which she heard of through her cousin, Aya Mletat, a fellow WISE participant. With no experience in finance or marketing, Mai works hard and attends as many trainings as possible so she can be ready to launch her business.
One thing she stated as particularly challenging is creating a good team of people who will be passionate about the project, but also experienced in IT and web design, something extremely difficult to find in Palestine. Another challenge for her is juggling work and the WISE program. She wants to learn as much as she can through WISE but also wants to continue working as to not rely solely on finding investors for her project; she wants to make sure that she can finance her project should she not get any grants. Despite these difficulties, Mai passionately works hard to absorb as much new information as possible in order to see her business succeed. Fully supported by her family right from the get-go, Mai is following in her mother’s footsteps as a businesswoman, and always gets constant reassurance from her father, brother, and even her boss who always tells her, “you can do it”.
When asked the top three areas of growth she would like to see in herself in the coming years she stated them as being:
- Professionalism
- Public speaking
- Independence
She added that the best piece of advice she’s gotten that has always remained with her was by her brother, who said, short and simply:
Don’t let anything stop you.
We applaud Mai for taking initiative at such a young age and paving her own path. Stay tuned to and follow her as she brings technological solutions to Palestine, and later, the Arab world.
-Lila Lila is a Fall 2012 intern.