Five One Labs’ 2022 Recap in a Blog

2022 was a year of innovation and the blossoming of diverse ideas as Five One Lab hosted a wide variety of interactive programs and activities. If there were one word to encapsulate the 2022 focus for Five One Labs, it would be Expansion. This year we broadened our horizons by expanding our global footprint, people, our programming & the ways we provide support for our entrepreneurs across all stages of their growth. At Five One Labs, we expanded our operations inside Iraq to three new governorates of Baghdad, Basra, and Duhok.

The reach did not stop there, as we also expanded our operations internationally to the city of Barranquilla, Colombia. These activities allowed startups, students, and entrepreneurs to network and learn more about the resources available to them across the globe.

As we start a new year, let’s take a moment to recognize the massive steps taken by our team and the entrepreneurs we support in 2022. Here are five of the top highlights Five One Labs had in 2022: 

Incubator for Creators

The program was an incubator for all sectors in Iraq. The program had 18 entrepreneurs with a total of 16 startups and three winners of a total of $30,000 in seed funding.

Academic Incubator

This initiative a collaboration between Five One Labs and The American University of Kurdistan partnered to educate university students within the city of Duhok.

Entrepreneurship in Universities

In a two-month program with three universities in Sulaimani, student entrepreneurs came up with an innovative business idea and competed at the level of their cities. This program was to encourage college students to consider the idea of entrepreneurship and establishing startups. 

Entrepreneurship Summer Festival

This collaboration between Five One Labs and Elryan was to provide a summer of activities and programs for Iraq’s entrepreneurs. The collab included boot camps, seminars, debates, startup bazaar, and entrepreneurship programs. 

Hungry for more? Here are additional highlights from the year:

• Acceleration Services: To provide better support for later-stage businesses, we ran a part-time program in both Arabic and English, tailored to the needs of each startup to target the growth of each participating business.

• Startup Bootcamps in Iraq: We ran a series of startup boot camps in Erbil, Baghdad, and Basra. The purpose of these boot camps was to hold ideation sessions and to encourage entrepreneurship in the country.

• Female Founders Fellowship: In 2022, we moved FFF to Baghdad. The program is specifically designed for women in Iraq, to give them the special support they need to overcome obstacles in the way of them and their businesses. The program was held in Baghdad.

• First Ignite in Basra: Five One Labs held its first Ignite program in Federal Iraq. During our expansion efforts, we had our first ignite in Basra, which lead to the incubator program that started in December 2022.