Can Startups Help Rebuild Peace in Syria?

In this edition of Industry Voices, we sat down with Ahmad Sufian Bayram, General Partner at Blackbox and founder of Startup Syria, to explore how entrepreneurship can be a catalyst for peacebuilding, resilience, and social cohesion in conflict-affected regions. Ahmad’s mission offers a powerful look at how innovation and entrepreneurship are helping to lay the foundation for a more connected, resilient Syria.

Ahmad Sufian Bayram’s Journey

Ahmad Sufian Bayram’s path into entrepreneurship wasn’t just a career choice, it became a mission shaped by conflict, displacement, and a relentless belief in the power of startups to drive change. At just 17, while still living in Syria, Ahmad launched his first company: Joy Makers,a business specializing in customized gifts. The venture gained traction, even securing funding from angel investors. But then came 2011, and everything changed. “The factory, where we used to manufacture our products, was bombed.” With Syria plunged into war, the very notion of doing business became untenable. He relocated to Lebanon, where part of his family was already based and immersed himself in the Lebanese startup scene, committed to one day bringing some of that momentum back to Syria.

Ahmad spent most of his professional career at Techstars, where he joined in 2015 and worked for over nine years as Regional Director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Throughout, he remained focused on using his network and experience to support entrepreneurs in fragile and conflict zones, particularly across the Levant. He even authored two books: “Entrepreneurship in Conflict Zones”, and “Entrepreneurship in Exile”. 

Today, Ahmad is a General Partner at Blackbox, a Palo Alto–based, founder-first platform started by fellow Syrian entrepreneur Fadi Bishara. For years, Blackbox has been a bridge between international founders and the Silicon Valley ecosystem, offering mentorship, community, and immersive residential programs. “We’ve supported over 400 founders across 60+ countries. They’ve raised $1.5 billion, seen 13 exits—and 91% are still operating,” Ahmad shares.

But like many, Blackbox pivoted in the wake of COVID. The focus sharpened: from global to urgent. Now, they’re raising a dedicated fund to back forcibly displaced entrepreneurs—people who’ve been pushed out of their home countries by war, political instability, or economic collapse

Startup Syria: A Community-Led Movement

One common theme that can be seen across Ahmad’s journey is his passion for entrepreneurship and helping other entrepreneurs. On that note, Ahmad founded Startup Syria in 2013, a grassroots initiative aimed at empowering Syrian entrepreneurs. What began as informal meetups and knowledge-sharing sessions gradually evolved into a vibrant, community-led network. In its early days, Startup Syria operated with a decentralized structure: volunteers organized workshops, hosted events, shared resources and spotlighted stories of resilience and innovation. 

Startup Syria has grown into a community of over 10,000 members. As shifts in the Syrian government began to make entrepreneurship more accessible inside the country, Ahmad found himself asking a familiar question: how can everything he’s learned abroad be brought back home?

Determined to challenge the tired narrative that Syria had no startup scene, he set out to document what was really happening on the ground. The result was a first-of-its-kind report that revealed a surprisingly active ecosystem: over 200 early-stage startups operating across the country and more than 300 startup-focused events held in just the past few years.

One finding stood out above the rest—women are driving the ecosystem forward. Female participation in entrepreneurship reached 35%, one of the highest rates in the region.

That research became a catalyst. It reignited the mission behind Startup Syria: to work hand-in-hand with founders inside the country, equip them with the tools and visibility they need, and position entrepreneurship as a driver of peacebuilding, resilience, and social cohesion in a place that needs all three now more than ever.

The Hackathon — Hack for Syria

That renewed mission wasn’t just theoretical—it became deeply personal. Earlier this year, Ahmad returned to Syria for the first time in over a decade. What began as a personal visit quickly turned into something more. As he traveled across the country, he came face-to-face with a reality that was impossible to ignore.

In one town, he visited a makeshift medical center—just 3 or 4 square meters in size—struggling to serve over 40,000 people. “Why isn’t there an app to ease this?” he wondered. He pictured a system where members of the Syrian diaspora—like the 6,000+ Syrian doctors now living in Germany—could donate just 30 minutes of their time remotely to support healthcare back home. But the gaps extended far beyond medicine. “More than 2,000 schools were bombed,” he said. “Kids don’t have access to basic education. But I studied in Syria. I could teach physics or math. Why is there no platform to make that possible?”

Those questions, and the urgency behind them, sparked Hack for Syria,  a hackathon bringing the Syrian tech community (both in-person and virtually) together to build solutions for Syria. The response was overwhelming—over 5,600 people registered. To meet the demand, they expanded from one planned hub to 11 across Syria, providing internet and power to ensure access for those who otherwise couldn’t participate. More than 300 teams came together to tackle real challenges, developing business models, apps, and websites, supported by 75 mentors from the Syrian diaspora and the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

Participants focused their efforts around six core themes: infrastructure, education, healthcare, social cohesion, economic development, and agriculture—all areas where innovation could make a tangible difference on the ground.

From there, 16 startups were selected for a two-week Launchpad program to help sharpen their business models, gain mentorship, and access practical founder insights. The initiative will culminate in a Demo Day, where teams pitch their solutions to investors, potential partners, and supporters.

One of the most powerful outcomes of Hack for Syria was the bridging of fragmented communities. “For many, it marked the first time someone from Idlib was collaborating with someone from Damascus or Deir el-Zor. Everyone came together around a shared mission: How can we contribute to Syria?” The hackathon became the first event in 14 years to run simultaneously across nearly all major Syrian cities.  

This also revealed emerging regional advantages that are helping reshape the dynamics of Syria’s startup landscape. Northern Syria, for instance, is benefiting from fewer sanctions under General License 22, improved infrastructure, and greater operational flexibility. Startups based in Damascus began to view Northern Syria as a viable market of over four million people. Conversely, entrepreneurs in the North are now considering expansion southward.

Infrastructure in Syria

One of the main challenges for Syrian startups lies in the country's basic infrastructure, particularly electricity and internet connectivity. These challenges affect not just internal operations but also how products are deployed, marketed, and used by customers. Ahmad explained that to keep building, “many founders rely on solar power, alternative energy, and power generators. And for the internet, they have their phones, they have DSL, and some of them now have Starlink.”

But these workarounds don’t necessarily extend to consumers. Ahmad shared the story of a founder running an e-commerce platform in Syria, who launched an SMS marketing campaign offering discounts through a clickable link. Despite sending out over a thousand messages, they received zero clicks. At first, they assumed it was a targeting issue, but the issue turned out to be tied to how people in Syria access the internet: “many people just rely on social media bundles. It’s essentially an Internet connection only for Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.” 

Even during the hackathon, providing access to power and Wi-Fi was a challenge. But despite these roadblocks, many founders continue to push forward, driven by the hope that once constraints are lifted, the Syrian market’s true potential will emerge. 

Support Ecosystem

Ahmad acknowledged that while the entrepreneurial spirit is there, the systems designed to support it remain immature, with no existence for institutional investment. This creates a significant bottleneck for founders. Once startups move beyond the initial phases and need capital to grow, there are simply no local investors to turn to. “When that happens, founders give up on the idea of scaling fast, and start slowing down just to make some money and save on expenses.” 

Ahmad noted that things have begun to shift this year, “there are already three or four conferences taking place in different forms. There are a lot of meetups, and a lot of investors are going back and looking for opportunities. So it’s going to be built up—but it will take a lot of time.”

Legal framework and structuring

When it comes to launching a startup in conflict-affected regions, legal frameworks can present unexpected roadblocks. Ahmad explained how outdated and impractical laws in Syria have historically made it difficult for startups to get off the ground. “There were a lot of unrealistic requirements,” he said. “For instance, if you're running a startup, you must register, have an office, pay for an application, and put money as an asset. But that's not how a startup works.”

Beyond bureaucracy, Ahmad highlighted deeper issues. Older laws required startups to comply with intrusive security measures, including storing data locally and allowing access to government forces—raising concerns for any startup handling sensitive information or building tech-based products.

Still, there's room for cautious optimism. Ahmad pointed to recent political changes as a potential turning point. “We're talking about a new government that just took office. Abdulsalam Heikal, the new minister of telecommunications and digital apps is someone I’ve known since 2013. He’s always been committed to supporting entrepreneurs, and I hope he’ll bring that mindset into policymaking.”

Investment Landscape 

While international sanctions remain one of the most significant barriers to attracting capital into Syria, Ahmad stresses that internal dynamics must also evolve—especially when it comes to how local investors approach early-stage startups. The current investment culture is misaligned with what startups actually need to grow. Modern instruments like SAFEs or convertible notes are still largely unfamiliar, making it difficult to introduce flexible, founder-friendly terms. Instead, many investors operate with a traditional business mindset, seeking large equity stakes in exchange for quick returns. “They don’t believe in exits. They believe in profit,” Ahmad noted.

At the same time, Syria’s market size holds undeniable potential. “Around 30 million people—more than the GCC combined, excluding KSA,” Ahmad pointed out. But market size alone isn't enough to attract capital. Investors today are looking for regional scalability, something that feels distant amid Syria’s current infrastructure limitations and political instability.

What’s truly needed is a collective push: strengthening the local startup community, fostering collaboration, and building companies with solid foundations that can attract meaningful investment. The Syrian diaspora has a critical role to play, transferring knowledge, unlocking investment, and facilitating global connections. While early diaspora efforts focused on humanitarian aid during the conflict, many are now shifting toward long-term engagement, supporting entrepreneurship and rebuilding infrastructure at home.

Peacebuilding Through Entrepreneurship

Ahmad also spoke about the role startups can play in fostering peace and reconciliation in Syria. Drawing from his own experiences and those of other conflict-affected regions, he noted that entrepreneurship can be a powerful force in bringing people together, especially when it focuses on solving shared problems and building toward a common future.

Startups, in his view, offer more than economic opportunity, they can serve as platforms for social cohesion. By promoting a collaborative, problem-solving mindset and providing tangible pathways to employment, entrepreneurship can help divert communities from harmful or divisive alternatives.

Ahmad emphasized that for entrepreneurship to truly contribute to peacebuilding, it must go beyond profit and innovation, it must be inclusive, intentional, and sensitive to local dynamics. Programs that favor well-connected founders risk deepening existing inequalities and fueling division. Instead, he advocates for a “no harm” approach that ensures opportunities are distributed across all segments of society. Lasting impact, he believes, comes from initiatives that prioritize social inclusion and view peacebuilding not as a bonus outcome, but as a core objective.

Potential for Syria’s Ecosystem

Ahmad sees immense potential in Syria’s entrepreneurial landscape. Despite years of conflict, he believes the country could become a powerful hub for startups—if peace, security, and social cohesion are addressed. With the right conditions, he envisions startups establishing back offices or operational centers in Syria, drawn by its strategic location near global hubs like Dubai and its significantly lower operational costs. This setup could provide Syrian professionals with direct exposure to high-growth environments and access to equity through ESOPs, offering both learning and wealth-building opportunities. Ahmad believes this experience will eventually fuel a new generation of globally competitive Syrian founders.

*Conversation took place on 8th of April 2025

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