The co-founders of BOLD Gadgets relocated their startup to Estonia because of the political situation of their home country.
BOLD Gadgets is now based in Tartu, Estonia.
Ismat Tuffaha and Lama Mansour, the co-founders of BOLD Gadgets, changed their lives for their business while they relocated their startup to Estonia.
“After one year of pointless development of the start-up in Palestine due to political restrictions and lack of resources, we decided we should look for international funds and accelerators so we can launch the first campaign from a free and resourceful country,” says Mansour. While searching for a suitable accelerator program for the company, BOLD Gadgets got accepted to join Buildit Hardware Accelerator in Estonia.
“We read a lot about Estonia and the ecosystem around startups in this country. It turned out to be a great decision as Estonia is a very start-up friendly country with very kind and supportive people,” says Mansour.
Mansour emphasizes that in Estonia there’s a culture that endorses more the startups and entrepreneurship all in all in comparison to Palestine, since entrepreneurs get more recognition, support and understanding. They’ve also found the support of the local network valuable while experts are willing to share their experiences with startups.
“Being an entrepreneur in Estonia is socially acceptable and welcomed. The entire ecosystem is very positive. On the other hand, Palestine is way behind Estonia in this field. The culture and community is pro-employment not pro-startups so it is not acceptable or welcomed to say that you do not want to pursue a job, and instead you want to start your own thing,” states Mansour.
“Moving to Estonia had a great impact on our growth.”
Dedicated in developing new gadgets
The relocation had a great impact on the growth of BOLD Gadgets, and the startup is finishing in few days a successful campaign on Indiegogo with their BOLD Knot USB charging cable. Mansour tells they got the idea for the charger when she got frustrated that Tuffaha, the co-founder, wasn’t reached through his phone. Before founding BOLD gadgets, the couple had been working together already four years.
“Ismat’s (Tuffaha) phone’s battery is always dead, which is frustrating if you work with him. If you ask him to carry a charger or a power bank, he’ll say that he can’t fit them in his pocket or key chain, and he believed this is a true problem. We made a market research and proved that this is a real problem people suffer from, that charging devices are not portable,” describes Mansour the idea of BOLD Knot.
Now their fast and handy charging cable, enabling two times faster charging and three hours of extra battery, has raised over 65 000 dollars during the past month.
As experiencing big changes during the past year, Mansour says being an entrepreneur has brought a lot of excitement and passion in their lives. Next the company will concentrate on scaling up the business through distribution and retail, and new products will be launched in the future.
“There is a lot of uncertainty all the time but we are driven by the belief that we can make it happen. Our lives revolve around BOLD Gadgets now, and we see it as the source for achieving all the great ambitions we have,” ponders Mansour.
