Ryan Sturgill, the former director of Gaza Sky Geeks, on the realities of running a tech hub in an occupied territory and how he's learned not to take 'no' for an answer. Palestine is a country too often associated with conflict. Home to the world’s longest-running occupation, headlines from the region tell a story of poverty, soaring unemployment and the threat of fresh outbreaks of violence. One organisation is working to change the narrative.  Gaza Sky Geeks is a startup incubator and accelerator that also houses Palestine's first full stack coding academy. Founded in 2011 by the international NGO Mercy Corps, with seed funding from Google, Gaza Sky Geeks is attempting to rewrite Gaza's story by focusing not on the territory’s politics, but on creating a digital economy that can sidestep trade and border restrictions and unlock new opportunities for Gazan youth. The organisation has to date trained more than 10,000 individuals, and Gaza Sky Geeks alumni collectively earned more than $5m in the 12 months post-graduation. Half of Gaza Sky Geeks’ participants are women and 99 per cent of those trained go on to get at least one online gig. Ryan  joined Gaza Sky Geeks as director in 2015, before leaving in May 2021. Hailing from Chicago, he has a bachelor’s in Middle Eastern studies from Georgetown, an MBA from MIT and an MPA from Harvard. Prior to joining Gaza Sky Geeks he worked in finance investment with a focus on frontier markets, including helping to establish a start-up incubator in Afghanistan. In this episode of The Impact Room, Ryan discusses the realities of running a tech startup in an occupied territory, the power of scrappy entrepreneurs to beat the odds, and how he’s learned not to take ‘no’ for an answer. He also looks back at the lessons he’s taken from six years at the helm of Gaza Sky Geeks, and opens up on the challenges that lay ahead for his successor in the quest for financial sustainability. This interview was recorded in April 2021, before the most recent conflict in June, which killed more than 250 people in Gaza and over a dozen in Israel, and destroyed thousands of homes. Gaza Sky Geek’s own office was damaged when neighbouring high-rises were hit by rocket attacks. The team has launched an online fundraising appeal to help repair the building and its generator, and return a much-needed workspace back to the community. The Impact Room is presented by Maysa Jalbout and brought to you by Philanthropy Age. For more information about Gaza Sky Geeks go to: https://gazaskygeeks.com or follow them on Twitter: @GazaSkyGeeks