Islamic Fintech has expanded rapidly over the past decade, with early growth driven by payments, remittances, and digital access to financial services. As the sector matures, attention is shifting from distribution-led expansion toward balance sheet integrity, asset backing, and governance.

This reflects wider global developments, where reserve transparency, verification, and consumer protection are receiving increased scrutiny. Within this environment, digital gold is emerging as a practical retail-facing expression of asset-backed financial design aligned with established Shariah principles. 

Asset backing has long defined Islamic finance, grounded in tangibility, ownership clarity, and disciplined risk-taking. In practice, however, many early Islamic Fintech models mirrored conventional digital finance, where asset exposure was indirect or implicit. Recent developments across digital assets, tokenization, and reserve-backed instruments have renewed emphasis on explicit asset anchoring and verification. These shifts place Islamic finance in closer alignment with evolving regulatory and market expectations.

Gold occupies a distinct position within Islamic jurisprudence as a ribawi asset governed by clear rules on exchange, ownership, and delivery. Unlike many real-world assets now being explored for digital representation, gold benefits from a mature global market infrastructure. Refining standards, custody practices, pricing benchmarks, and audit conventions are widely established, reducing structural ambiguity. These characteristics make gold comparatively easier to translate into digital ownership models without altering its underlying financial or Shariah attributes.

Digital gold models apply modern financial infrastructure to physical gold through fractional access, digital records, and institutional custody. While technology improves accessibility and operational efficiency, it does not alter the requirement for legally enforceable ownership of the underlying asset.

In Islamic finance, this distinction is central. Structures that confer ownership of physical gold differ materially from arrangements that provide contractual exposure to gold prices. The credibility of digital gold therefore rests on ownership mechanics rather than interface or distribution.

Governance frameworks determine the integrity of digital gold structures. Core considerations include asset segregation, custodian independence, audit scope and frequency, and transparency of redemption processes. Digital ledgers and automation can support traceability, but they do not replace legal title or physical verification. From both regulatory and Shariah perspectives, emphasis is increasingly placed on continuous assurance and clear disclosure rather than one-time validation.

Digital gold is often discussed alongside gold-backed stablecoins and other tokenized commodities. While these instruments share asset-linked characteristics, their objectives and risk profiles differ. Stablecoins typically prioritize transactional liquidity, while digital gold savings emphasize ownership and capital preservation. Tokenized commodities introduce further considerations around transferability and enforceability, reinforcing the need for precise classification across asset-backed digital finance.

Despite its structural alignment with Shariah principles, digital gold faces ongoing challenges. Governance standards vary across jurisdictions, consumer understanding of asset-backed claims remains uneven, and regulatory treatment of pooled custody arrangements continues to evolve.

As Islamic fintech enters its next phase, the role of digital gold will be shaped less by technological capability and more by the robustness of ownership, governance, and verification frameworks. Whether the ecosystem can converge on common benchmarks for asset-backed retail finance remains an open question with material implications for the sector.

Today, fintech and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications are revolutionizing the financial world, pushing it into uncharted territory. While Fintech often integrates with traditional financial institutions, decentralized finance focuses on blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) based solutions. Both areas are being carefully examined through the lens of Islamic finance, as experts explore the potential opportunities they may offer.

Starting with Bitcoin, the debate over the compatibility of cryptocurrencies with Islamic finance continues to evolve, sparking diverse interpretations. Scholars and economists often hold contrasting views, leaving Muslim investors in a gray area between halal (permissible) and haram (forbidden) investments. However, it seems inevitable that digital assets will become a central part of financial management in the future. Therefore, this issue should not be reduced to a simple halal-haram dichotomy but should instead be examined from multiple angles to highlight its permissibility or prohibition.

Conceptualized as “Decentralized Islamic Finance”, there are both Islamic finance applications and traditional practices deemed permissible in this space. To address this complexity, the following categorization can be applied:

1. Decentralized finance applications based on Islamic finance principles
2. Islamic finance-compliant decentralized finance applications
3. Islamic finance-compliant decentralized finance applications integrated with traditional finance
4. Decentralized finance applications integrated with traditional finance
5. Traditional finance applications compliant with Islamic finance principles

According to this framework, the first three categories — Islamic finance-based (1), Islamic finance-compliant (2), and Islamic finance-compliant decentralized finance integrated with traditional finance (3) — fall under the umbrella of Decentralized Islamic Finance. All applications emerging within this scope can be evaluated under this framework.

Since decentralized finance began gaining traction in 2016, Islamic finance-compliant digital assets, exchanges, and technology solutions have started to emerge. However, due to the nascent nature of the field, unclear business models, and sustainability challenges, many initiatives have struggled to survive. Early examples include FICE adab solutions, Qintar token, hada dbank, Bayan token, ateon, biocoin, noorcoin, IslamiChain, and ZakatTech. While these projects generated excitement, most failed to sustain themselves. A few, like OneGram, continue to operate passively. This is a common trend in the broader blockchain economy, where many projects fade quickly.

Today, several decentralized finance applications offering Islamic finance services are active and fall under the first category of my framework. Examples include Marhaba DeFi, Islamic Coin, Qitmeer, Takadao, and Cryptozakat. Additionally, there are initiatives that, while not fully decentralized, provide blockchain-based solutions or prepare for new innovations. Tokenization of real-world assets also fits into this ecosystem.

Layer 1 blockchain platforms like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, along with their digital assets, are also considered compliant with Islamic finance. Notably, this assessment comes from the Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB), a body of Islamic scholars. They have stated that these digital assets do not inherently conflict with Islamic finance principles.

Thirdly, there are Islamic finance-compliant service providers, such as exchanges facilitating digital asset trading. Platforms like Fasset, Rain, and Coinmena fall into this category, enabling broader access to digital assets.

To evaluate decentralized finance applications, an assessment canvas with three main pillars can be used: 

• Purpose and Design, Technical Infrastructure, and Governance. Each pillar includes specific building blocks:
• Technical: Infrastructure, digital asset, smart contract structure, and interoperability with other chains and applications.
• Governance: Execution, Shariah advisory board, official establishment and representation, and oversight.

This canvas provides a structured framework for assessing the compliance and viability of decentralized finance applications within the Islamic finance context.

Decentralized finance is poised to play an increasingly significant role in our financial lives. Given the alignment of blockchain’s transparency, reliability, and distributed nature with Islamic finance principles, it is crucial to address this topic systematically. Ignoring this space could deprive Muslim communities of a transformative technology and its benefits.

The rise of asset-backed digital assets and global investment opportunities presents a unique chance to enhance the sustainability and reach of Islamic finance. Neglecting this potential could result in significant missed opportunities.

As the potential of Decentralized Islamic Finance becomes clearer, I believe all stakeholders will grow more enthusiastic about its possibilities. Until then, we will continue refining the ecosystem map and advancing this transformative field.

Over the last decade, Fintech has moved into the mainstream of financial services and consumer behavior. The Fintech market revenue is projected to grow fivefold to $1.5 trillion by 2030, with growth driven in part by digital access expanding faster than traditional offerings.

Islamic Fintech is emerging along with this broader momentum, to address the increasing demand for Shariah compliant and ethical products. The global Islamic Fintech market 198 billion in 2024/25 and is projected to reach USD 341 billion by 2029, growing at 11.5% per year. Yet it still represents a small share of global Fintech activity. That gap highlights where the next phase of Islamic Fintech growth is likely to come from.

In any conversation related to technology, it’s difficult to escape the ‘AI’ hyperbole and the lofty expectations set by marketers. But practically speaking, AI does provide a golden opportunity to build and iterate quickly and address structural issues. Operational scaling has long been a challenge in Islamic finance. Due to bespoke products, manual Shariah reviews, lack of data and high compliance costs.  AI, if used responsibly, can address many of these issues, from supporting alternative credit scoring for underserved SMEs, automating Shariah monitoring, and improving risk management. The value is simple, AI can offer lower cost, faster decisions, and wider access, while preserving ethical considerations.

While Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have had a characteristically frenetic 2025, the enterprise use of the underlying blockchain technology and real-world asset tokenisation continues to mature. Global financial giants such as Blackrock and JP Morgan are investing heavily, spurred on by regulatory tailwinds from the U.S. Islamic finance relies on clear ownership, asset-backing, and trust. Blockchain fits naturally here. Sukuk, commodities or receivables can be issued and managed more efficiently through distributed ledgers. This reduces cost, improves settlement, and democratises access for smaller investors. Progress has continued through 2025, Fasset, the Islamic Finance Super App, is utilising blockchain to offer fractional tokenised equities, blockchain-payments, and develop the first ‘stablecoin-based Shariah compliant’ banking model, following the securing of a provisional banking license. In parallel, firms such as Blade Labs are exploring ways blockchain can be used to improve efficiency, transparency, and auditability in Islamic finance contracts.

Many Islamic financial products sit outside daily economic flows. Users must seek them out. That makes distribution expensive and slow.  Embedded finance changes this.  Shariah compliant BNPL or micro-takaful could sit inside e-commerce platforms, mobile apps and digital transaction flows.  According to a report by Dealroom and ABN AMRO Ventures, the global embedded finance market value is expected to reach $7.2 trillion by 2030. There is a clear opportunity to provide accessible Islamic financial services, to address the growing shift to integrated financial services.

Across successive Global Islamic Fintech Reports, access to capital and navigating regulatory requirements is consistently highlighted as the main hurdles by Islamic Fintech founders. One practical option to address both constraints is to focus on Business-to-Business (B2B) or Business-to-Business-to-Consumer (B2B2C) models. BCG expect these markets to grow by over $700 billion in annual revenues by 2030. Banks are increasingly cultivating innovation through investments, acquisitions, and partnerships, in order to stay relevant. Traditional Islamic banks already have capital, the regulatory permissions, and customer distribution in place. Fintechs are nimble, they can build new products and deploy far faster than banks typically can internally. In an increasingly digital and innovation driven environment, where capital and regulatory access is still paramount, strategic partnership delivers meaningful value for incumbents and Fintechs alike. 

Over the last couple of years, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has moved towards the center of the global Fintech market. Today, the region is home to more than 1,000 Fintech companies, with multiple unicorns and growing capital inflows. A young, mobile-first population, strong government backing, and investment in digital infrastructure have helped Fintechs to scale quickly across payments, lending, and digital banking. Qatar continues to push ahead in Fintech and offers a supportive environment ideal for innovation. This momentum is reflected in investment activity: in 2024, Fintech accounted for a significant share of Qatar’s venture funding, with over 500% year-on-year growth. Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) plays a central role in shaping this ecosystem. Through its Fintech friendly framework, QFC offers company incorporation with 100% foreign ownership, fast licensing, and a common-law environment familiar to international founders.

QFC also works closely with Qatar Central Bank, Qatar Fintech Hub, and Qatar Development Bank, giving founders access to coordinated pathways that combine sandboxes, pilots, funding support, grants and partnerships. Qatar offers practical conditions for building new financial products. The digitally engaged population, a leading Islamic finance sector and dedicated Fintech support programs provide a space for innovation, particularly for Islamic Fintech use cases, to test and scale.

Islamic Fintech is poised to enter the next phase of growth. Emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and open banking will enable new products and lower barriers to entry. As supportive regulatory frameworks and ecosystem support matures, more players are likely to enter the market. This will intensify competition, but also create opportunities for partnership, collaboration, and selective consolidation. Over time, these trends should lead to stronger products and wider access to Shariah compliant financial services.

Asset tokenization is emerging as a practical way to modernize Islamic capital markets by representing real-world financial claims and ownership rights as programmable digital tokens. Tokenized sukuk is a particularly relevant use case, where issuance, reporting, and secondary-market activity can become more transparent, automated, and auditable. However, scaling from pilots to resilient digital markets requires more than token standards; it requires enabling components that support macro-linked payout logic, trusted macroeconomic data inputs, and stable, well-governed market functioning. Two capabilities are especially important in this context:

• GDP-linked (or GDP-sensitive) sukuk, where distributions adjust according to transparent economic indicators, improving alignment with real economic capacity. In practice, GDP-linked features typically rely on official published GDP data with defined lags, smoothing rules, and fallback provisions to handle revisions and reporting delays.
• Advanced inflation tracking, where higher-integrity data collection and reporting improve confidence in real-return assessment and index-aware cashflow management.

Complementary data and governance tools can support macro-linked instruments in tokenized markets. Truflation provides higher-frequency (e.g., daily-updated) CPI/inflation indicators with a documented methodology; Chainalysis’ Crypto Adoption Index is a proxy for digital-asset adoption/usage; Consensys surveys capture adoption perceptions; and Snapshot supports governance (e.g., voting on data sources and parameters) rather than producing macro indicators. To complement these technologies, the Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) has introduced a suite of complementary innovative solutions that can serve as enabling components for these capabilities: the Smart Credit Management System (SCMS) (patented), Smart Voucher (patented), and the Smart Stabilization System (SSS) (patent pending). Together, they form an infrastructure stack that strengthens discipline, programmability, data-driven execution, and market stability - key ingredients for GDP-linked sukuk and enhanced inflation-tracking tools. GDP-linked and inflation-aware structures are not only “token design” questions; they are systems challenges involving data governance, execution integrity, market stability, and inclusive distribution. IsDBI’s innovative solutions help address these constraints in an integrated manner.

SCMS (Patented): A Market Integrity and Discipline Layer
The Smart Credit Management System provides on-chain recording of payment behavior, transparent credit indicators, and structured support mechanisms for verified distress. For GDP-linked sukuk platforms, SCMS:

• Reinforces confidence in macro-adjusted cashflows through auditable behavioral records,
• Reduces execution uncertainty by standardizing triggers and evidence, and
• Supports resilience during economic stress without undermining market trust.

SCMS does not define macro indices; rather, it strengthens accountability, transparency, and orderly execution around macro-linked instruments.

Smart Voucher (Patented): Programmable Distribution and Inclusion
Smart Voucher enables controlled-purpose spending, targeted value distribution, and fully traceable disbursement pathways. Within GDP-linked sukuk and inflation-aware ecosystems, it:

• Supports automated and auditable payout and reporting flows,
• Enables policy-aligned interventions and benefit calibration, and
• Provides a programmable environment where inflation-aware rules can be executed transparently.

Smart Voucher strengthens programmable distribution and operational credibility in macro-linked token markets.

SSS (Patent Pending): A Stability Layer for Tokenized Sukuk Markets
The Smart Stabilization System introduces rules-based market-stabilization controls to help reduce destabilizing volatility in tokenized secondary markets. For GDP-linked and inflation-sensitive instruments, SSS:

• Mitigates short-term market overshooting and speculative swings,
• Improves market confidence and regulatory readiness, and
• Supports orderly trading during macro-data events.

SSS helps ensure that macro-linked token markets behave like credible capital-market environments rather than speculative venues.

In tokenized finance, building an effective inflation-tracking ecosystem goes beyond simple data feeds. It requires secure data ingestion, robust governance frameworks, transparent audit trails, and automated workflows that comply with Shariah and regulatory standards. These elements ensure that inflation-sensitive instruments operate with integrity and predictability. A clearer way to frame the ecosystem is to separate:

• the data/reference layer (how inflation indicators are constructed, validated, governed, revised, and audited), and
• the execution and market layer (how those indicators are used in smart contracts, reporting, distributions, and trading venues).

Blockchain-based tools can strengthen the data/reference layer by enabling higher-frequency indicators, multi-source cross-checking, and transparent, auditable governance over how data is selected and updated. For example, Truflation can be referenced as a higher-frequency CPI/inflation signal with a published methodology, while adoption indices (e.g., Chainalysis) and perception surveys (e.g., Consensys) can add contextual market intelligence - without being treated as official macro statistics. Finally, Snapshot-style DAO governance is best used to manage data-source trust, update/approval rules, and fallback mechanisms for disruptions or revisions, rather than to produce macro indicators itself. Within such architectures, IsDBI’s innovative solutions add critical operational strength.

Iran’s government may be under stress, but it retains coercive stability, according to analysts.  

“The regime is under very strong pressure, certainly. The most problematic is the leadership succession, which has no obvious answer. We may therefore yet see some changes, but I think we’re far away from a collapse in the government’s ability to provide basic services and maintain a monopoly on the use of force within the territory,” Vladimir Gorshkov, macro policy strategist at State Street Investment Management tells Salaam Gateway. 

Conflict sparked in Iran on December 28 when protests broke out in two major markets in the country’s capital, Tehran, after a spike in inflation pushed food prices higher. The head of Iran’s central bank resigned the following day as demonstrations spilled over to other cities.

“Iran is experiencing administrative failure (collapse of services and currency) but retains coercive stability. The security apparatus remains cohesive and loyal,” Khaled Al Terkawi, an economist advisor at Etunum tells Salaam Gateway. 

Iran has been contending with challenges emanating from economic sanctions, political turmoil and fiscal deficits for years. US President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions during his first term in 2018 while the United Nations reimposed its sanctions last September. The country’s social and economic plight was exacerbated with Israeli and American airstrikes targeting its military brass and nuclear sites last June.

The country’s economic woes continue - the International Monetary Fund forecasts Iran’s economy to grow 1.1% this year and 1.6% in 2027, in its January report. The figures remain unchanged from the fund’s October 2025 projections. 

In its last October regional economic outlook report for the Middle East and Central Asia, the fund projected Iran’s government debt to increase to 36.4% of its GDP in 2026, and 39.3% by 2030. Meanwhile, inflation has more than doubled in the last five decades, from 20.6% in 1980 to 42.4% in 2025. 

“The sanctions imposed on Iran, coupled with the scale of its military spending have all contributed significantly to the weakening of the currency,” adds Terkawi. 

“Consequently, the currency is currently in its worst state, and this decline is perhaps the root cause of most of the problems. Therefore, addressing inflation will primarily involve tackling the currency collapse and, on the other hand, reducing the government's excessive spending on unproductive matters.”

Iran’s 2026 draft budget presented to its parliament days before the protests began, proposed a 2% rise in value-added tax from 10% to 12%, with Iranian consumers and employees expected to assume the maximum weight of the tax rise. The proposal suggested a 20% increase in salaries for government employees and retirees, against an inflation rate of more than 40%.  

Iranian rial fell from 1.12 million to $1 on December 12 to 1.43 million to $1 on December 28. It traded at an all-time low of 1.48 million to $1 on January 6, according to Bonbast.com, a website that tracks live exchange rates in Iran’s free market.    

“The sharp depreciation is a massive loss of purchasing power for the population; a sad reality that will be all too familiar. The sell-off has an element of panic. Seeing the currency slide has prompted capital flight; people buying gold, USD, stablecoin -- to preserve the value of their savings,” says Gorshkov.  

Terkawi believes the rial's decline to around 1.5 million against the dollar indicates a structural, not merely technical, bottom. It reflects long-term expectations and a complete erosion of confidence, leading to rapid memory loss and the dollarization of the economy.

President Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on countries that do business with Iran, complicating the country’s economic abyss. Gorshkov feels that imposing such a tax would conflict with other objectives.

“It’s not clear yet what how the administration aims to implement these, if at all, as imposing the tariff would conflict with other foreign policy objectives. For example, China is Iran’s largest export destination, but to slap a new tariff on that relationship risks upending the ongoing trade truce.”

“This suggests selective implementation at best and probably just the threat thereof. It will therefore not a game-changer. But in a world where Iran can use every marginal dollar that it can get its hands on, it matters,” adds Gorshkov.    

The new tariffs, however, will act as secondary sanctions, punishing third parties for trading with Iran, notes Terkawi. 

“This exacerbates the crisis by forcing deeper discounts on Iranian oil exports (slashing revenue despite volume) and severing supply chains for basic goods, further fueling inflation and panic.”

The Iranian government’s directive to sever internet services on January 8 has compounded the country’s economic plight, costing the economy tens of thousands of dollars in financial loss. 

Iran’s deputy minister of communications and information technology, Ehsan Chitsaz, put the economic cost of the internet outage at $2.8 million to $4.3 million a day, according to Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA. 

Actual costs may be significantly higher, with NetBlocks, a digital governance and connectivity tracker, reportedly estimating that internet shutdown could costs the country over $37 million each day. 

Root and branch reform 
Terkawi suggests that the currency needs to regain confidence, not just undergo a change. Moreso, a comprehensive financial audit is necessary. 

“The government must immediately address the absence of financial action task force recommendations to release foreign oil reserves and their associated interest. Without foreign currency inflows, this monetary opportunity becomes ineffective.”

The government must cease deficit financing (financial printing and debt guarantees). Without these structural corrections, superficial measures like redenomination (removing zeros) become practically ineffective, he adds. 

For many Palestinians, the prospect of securing stable work now feels more distant than ever. After more than two years of relentless war in the Gaza Strip, local job opportunities have all but vanished, while access to the global labour market remains limited to a small number of highly qualified professionals.

In the West Bank, nearly one-third of men and women were unemployed in early 2025, according to the International Labour Organization. In Gaza, the situation is far worse, with government data showing unemployment soaring to almost 68% by the end of 2024.

The war has wiped out most sources of income. Local organisations have shut down, and the commercial sector - shops, bakeries, and small businesses - has been nearly destroyed. The collapse has affected both seasoned professionals and a generation of young people graduating in devastation.

“Although Palestinians are incredibly skilled - they’re amongst the highest educated in the region with an almost 20-year tradition of monetising skills online - they face additional challenges,” Kathrine Nicolaisen, founder and CEO of Olives & Heather, a remote-first, Palestinian social-impact marketing agency, tells Salaam Gateway.

Those who completed their studies between 2023 and 2026 are entering a labour market that barely exists. 

“That is four graduating cohorts, each numbering in the thousands. Imagine all these young people entering a devastated job market,” Farah Alejil, humanitarian programs officer at Gaza-based NGO AlAnqaa Association for Community Development tells Salaam Gateway. 

Alejil graduated just months before the war began. “The public sector is non-operational, the private sector is barely functioning, and while the international job market remains active, it demands exceptionally high qualifications and at least five years of experience,” she adds. 

Battling the perception of instability

One of the most persistent obstacles is perception. Employers - particularly international ones - often hesitate to invest in Palestinian talent due to assumptions about instability, reliability, and infrastructure.

“Sure, during active war Palestinians and especially Gazans will not be working at 100% capacity, but they’re extremely flexible and motivated, and will find ways to make things work,” says Nicolaisen.

Alejil says this reluctance is widespread in remote hiring. “Foreign employers think twice before hiring people from Gaza because of concerns around financial transfers, productivity, and their ability to deliver work consistently - simply because they’re based in Gaza.” 

“That said, some employers are willing to take the risk, and when they do, the impact can be significant. Even if just 20 people are hired out of a thousand, those 20 often go on to train and employ others, creating a ripple effect that supports entire households.”

Infrastructure gap

Even when jobs are theoretically available, the basic conditions needed to work remotely are often missing. Many students completed their education entirely online during the war, yet lack access to stable electricity, Internet, or professional training in how to find and sustain remote work.

“Over the past two years, Internet access has been repeatedly cut off. Electricity is rarely available,” says Alejil. 

“I personally have an external power line, but many people don’t even have an electricity connection. How can remote workers function under these conditions?”

The disruption has stalled the careers of experienced professionals as well. Senior developers who once juggled multiple international clients now find themselves with one - or none. Long-standing contracts have been terminated, and entire outsourcing branches shut down.

“Some youth-led workspaces exist, supported by external funding, but there are thousands of graduates, and these spaces can only accommodate 20 to 30 people at a time,” adds Alejil.

“Even then, the Internet is not always stable. Internet access is beyond our control - the lines are largely supplied from the Israeli side and can be cut off from all of Gaza at any time.”

Nicolaisen points to the extraordinary measures many Palestinian remote workers take just to stay online - combining solar panels, car batteries, and eSims to generate power and secure Internet access.

Payment barriers 

Getting paid remains another formidable challenge. Financial restrictions and exclusion from international aid initiatives continue to isolate Palestinian workers from the global economy.

“Even initiatives launched to serve refugees and displaced communities exclude Palestine,” says Nicolaisen. “All of these factors combined makes it very hard for Palestinians to access the international job market.”

She adds that basic survival needs - housing, safety, and mental health - place an enormous burden on freelancers trying to maintain professional commitments amid ongoing trauma.

Alejil echoes this reality. “For entrepreneurs, private loans are nearly impossible to obtain, and even professionals working for international organisations struggle to receive their salaries. Western Union is blocked throughout Gaza, and wire transfers are extremely difficult.”

As a result of these challenges, a lot of digital employees have been let go by their employers over the past two years, according to Nicolaisen. 

“Rather than adjusting, they decided to cut ties and even close down whole outsourcing branches.”

Training, placement, and local solutions

Despite the scale of the crisis, some organisations are working to rebuild pathways into employment. 

Olives & Heather collaborates with local and international tech startups and ecosystem builders - including Gaza Sky Geeks, the Palestinian IT Association, and social enterprise BuildPalestine - to train and place Palestinian marketers and designers.

BuildPalestine has intensified its efforts, recently launching a $1.2 million fundraising campaign aimed at tripling the number of impact-driven businesses it supports - from 25 today to 65 enterprises by 2028 - signalling a longer-term commitment to economic resilience.

Complementing these initiatives, educational programmes such as Axsos Academy, a Palestinian coding bootcamp, equips talent with the skills needed for online work, while recruiters including Foras, MENA Alliances, and TAP play a critical role in connecting Palestinians to job opportunities.

Axsos Academy recently partnered with US-based NGO HEAL Palestine to launch 50 fully funded tech scholarships for youth from Gaza, offering a tangible pathway to skills development and employment amid the ongoing crisis.

Nicolaisen believes the tech sector offers the most immediate potential for job creation in Palestine.

“The tech sector is already contributing 4% to the Palestinian economy, and the potential is infinite,” she says.

“All Palestinians and Gazans need to start making an income and rebuild their lives is a laptop and an Internet connection.”

At the local level, organisations like AlAnqaa Association are often more effective than large international NGOs, according to Alejil.

“They hire from within the community - people with experience, though not necessarily elite qualifications - bringing in fresh graduates, supporting and training them, and gradually increasing their responsibilities.”

“Today, we have 72 employees, which is a significant achievement for a local organisation,” she says. “About 12 are permanent full-time staff, and the rest part-time.”

AlAnqaa recently launched a mobile physiotherapy outreach programme, employing newly graduated physiotherapists to provide care to injured citizens in their homes. The organisation is also preparing to establish a workspace to support both local employment and online work in Gaza.

A workforce in waiting 

The crisis facing Palestinian workers is not a shortage of talent, ambition, or work ethic - it is a crisis of access, infrastructure, and imagination. 

Palestinians have spent decades building skills for the digital economy, only to be locked out at a time they need it most.

Yet within this bleak landscape, small but significant interventions are proving that employment is possible when flexibility and trust are prioritised. 

From community-led NGOs to remote-first tech initiatives, these efforts offer a blueprint for how global employers, donors, and policymakers can move beyond sympathy toward meaningful inclusion.