It is with a heavy heart that today we share the news of Mahmoud Abushawish’s death. As the co-founder of Palestinian e-commerce platform Torood, he was no ordinary Orange Corners graduate, but one of our very best.
We extend our deepest condolences to Mahmoud’s family, his wife and children, his co-founder Ezz, all other friends and the entire Palestinian entrepreneurial community. We feel their loss and share their deep grief and pain.
Mahmoud’s life is testament to what strong will and determination can achieve even in the harshest circumstances. As an entrepreneur in Gaza, the environment in which he operated was among the most difficult. That together with Ezz he managed to build a business to rival that of our alumni facing far, far, far more favourable circumstances, speaks volumes of his character.
Mahmoud had just finished our Alumni Accelerator, where his story inspired fellow entrepreneurs from all over Africa and the Middle East. His fellow Alumni Accelerator graduates remember his motto: “if you can make it in Gaza, you can make it anywhere!” And he was making waves with Torood. In Mahmoud, the entrepreneurial community in Gaza lost one of its most prominent pillars.
