Mr. Al-Ashi has over 26 years’ experience managing, implementing, and monitoring multimillion-dollar funded programmes in Gaza. His impressive track record includes working across different sectors, including private sector/business development and reform, trade facilitation, institutional capacity building, relief and emergency response, and community infrastructure development. For the past 20 years Basem has been delivering programmes supporting entrepreneurs and SMEs (e.g. ICT, agriculture and agribusiness) for key international players like the ILO, CARANA Corporation, Mercy Corps, and for DAI, largely funded by USAID, providing him with a sound knowledge of the private sector (traditional and new sectors and players) in Gaza. Over the years he has built a sound understanding of Gaza’s complex and nuanced context, and reliably operates and delivers within this challenging environment.

Basem’s vast experience has honed his capacity building expertise by working with organizations to develop their business plans, conduct feasibility studies and numerous needs assessments, and develop capacity building plans. He has assisted hundreds of Palestinian businesses and private sector associations to benefit from in-kind grants and non-financial services, including technical assistance and capacity building.

Basem has developed and evaluated several requests for quotations (RFQs) and developed Terms of Reference for the provision of related consultancy and training services. He has also conducted countless monitoring and evaluation and impact assessment processes, and has extensive experience evaluating grant requests and applications from MSMEs. Basem offers extensive experience working with business owners and senior teams building their capacity on management, marketing, and sales techniques. Basem supported the establishment of market linkages in Netherlands, Sweden, US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. He participated in external missions, including to Germany, Jordan, and the USA.

Over the years, Basem has built a reputation for developing and maintaining excellent relationships with grantees, local partners, the international community, government agencies, private sector representatives, and CSOS in the Gaza Strip. He is a renowned operator and trouble-shooter, with an impressive network of contacts, and a reputation for delivering results in Gaza.