An Outsourcing Firm in Gaza, Palestine: The Destruction and Rebirth of a Mission – with Saady Lozon of BPO Zones

Palestine might not be the first place you think of when outsourcing. But despite the turmoil the nation has faced, particularly in recent years, there have been those who have strived to establish their businesses and offer a glint of hope for the people. 

This unique episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast shines a light on one of them. Derek speaks with Saady Lozon, CEO and Founder of BPO ZONES and Executive Director of Unit One Group. 

They talk about Saady’s struggles to build an outsourcing business in Palestine and his determination to keep going even after losing it all to war. 

Beginning with Unit One 

Saady began his outsourcing career with a company called Unit One. He initially searched for jobs after graduating from university, but eventually decided to start a business with his friends. 

“We were deciding, what can generate business in this time? We [saw] that the trend of the world is outsourcing and that Indian and Philippine companies have the experience in this. 

Why didn’t we have companies like these in Gaza? We have talented [and] unemployed people. Why don’t we establish a business to generate jobs for these people?” 

The company really boomed as they made use of social media to get the word out. 

“Especially in LinkedIn, this [gave] us more energy to access the professional networks and make some digital marketing for our companies to generate business. 

And this [gave] us more hope to grow.” 

Unit One offered two primary services: IT outsourcing and Business Process Outsourcing. The company catered to multinational clients, mostly in the data industry. 

Operating in Gaza

Saady admits that his main dream then was to elevate Palestine as an outsourcing destination. 

“The main mission of Unit One was to build a very big outsourcing hub and center in Palestine and Gaza.” 

He highlights the skill of the workforce, taking special pride in giving opportunities to underserved groups. 

“We had a big mission to create jobs for females. About 40% of all employees in Unit One [are] female. We also have some handicapped people working with us, and some people not talking (mute) [in] data entry projects. 

We give them opportunities to work. This is one of our corporate social responsibilities, to create jobs in Gaza.” 

Saady says that online methods enabled them to operate despite the instability in Gaza. 

“Gaza is a closed space, and Gaza has [difficulty] in the economy in general. 

And this is when we were hoping to export services through the Internet. You don’t need to access the border to travel.” 

Rebuilding with BPO ZONES

Saady recalls the war breaking out.

“After the political situation and war in Gaza, the company [was] destroyed completely. The situation was very difficult to continue operations, [so] we exited from Gaza to Egypt.” 

A few weeks after the situation in Gaza intensified, all of Unit One’s clients terminated their contracts. 

When he established BPO ZONES, he had to work to get them back. 

“We contacted all the previous clients to reestablish the relationships. Some of them promised to start small, to build trust again. 

But I think from our experience, the clients [are] happy to work with us. We work with [them] as a partner, not [just] as a client and service provider.” 

He understood the business reasons for their hesitancy but was confident that BPO ZONES could provide good service to put them at ease. 

“Business is business every time, but sometimes when you work with people for a long time, there is a friendship built.” 

Thankfully, Saady wasn’t starting from nothing. 

“If you have experience [in] managing outsourcing projects, it gives you some support. And this is one of the assets you can depend on.”

This allowed them to take on small projects to find their footing again. 

Saady credits the proficiency of his team as well. 

“The main assets and the main goodwill for any service [or] business is the human resources. When you have a big pool of talents, [of] high-quality stuff, [this] is the main support you have to give you more and more projects.” 

After such a traumatic time, Saady only finds happiness and resilience in his current life role. He has now set himself up in Oman.

“The experience is very important, [to] have 19 years of experience in Gaza’s hard environment to establish a new business in Oman and Egypt. 

I think I have a good success story to build a new business on.” 

You may visit BPO ZONES’s website here. Saady may be reached via his email at [email protected] as well as through his LinkedIn profile.