Mahmoud Alwadia was about to live a founder’s dream: he’s part of the Antler residency program, his ed-tech startup in the starting blocks. Now he hasn’t been able to leave the Gaza Strip for more than 100 days.
On the left his “normal life” at the Munich Stachhus, on the right his current reality: The founder Mahmoud Alwadia reports how he has been stuck in the Gaza Strip for more than 100 days.
“Tinkerin” says in his WhatsApp status, last changed on August 13, 2023, he is crafting. Namely on his first, own startup. A founder “in stealth mode”. Two months earlier, Mahmoud Alwadia had left his job as a senior software engineer at Shopify in Munich to start a business. And it all looked pretty good for the 27-year-old. He made it into the highly sought-after accelerator program of the international early-stage investor Antler and prevailed against thousands of competitors. He would have been part of the fall 2023 cohort in Munich. Before starting this new phase of his life, he wouldn’t have wanted to visit his family in Gaza City, where he was born and raised. His return flight to Munich was booked for October 10, 2023. The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 abruptly destroyed his plans.
Mahmoud Alwadia has now been stuck in the Gaza Strip for more than 100 days. Alwadia has a permanent residence permit in Germany. He could come here at any time. But there is no way for him to leave the Gaza Strip. The German authorities cannot help him at the moment because he has a residence permit but is not a German citizen.
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One of the Antler investors told us this. He also made contact with the founder from his Munich Antler Residents cohort. We chatted with Mahmoud Alwadia via Whatsapp. It took several days before he replied that the electricity and grid were constantly failing, he writes. We suggested he make a phone call or send voice messages. Would text messages be okay? he answers. “I’m here in a small house with 60 people, it’s so loud here.”
Normal life in Munich suddenly becomes unattainable
What we report here is written to us by the 27-year-old. From a German cell phone number and with a profile picture that shows him smiling happily in front of Munich’s Karlstor at Stachhus. He calls his life in Munich “his normal life, in the country that I love and that I have chosen as my home.” He wants this normality back.
“I arrived in Gaza on September 10th,” Alwadia reports. “I visit my family regularly. My mother is quite old and we are very close because I am her youngest son. I promised her I wouldn’t forget her and I visit her once every year.”
Alwadia left his home in Gaza City years ago. He first worked as a frontend engineer in Dubai, and in 2020 he came to Munich. “I was 24 when I came to Germany. I started working for Finn in Munich and immediately fell in love with the city. For me, Munich has been my home for three years now.”
That’s why he decided to found his startup in the Bavarian capital: “It feels like a home, gives me energy, helps me stay focused. The city is increasingly international and there is a lot going on in the startup scene, lots of young people, the good universities and companies there – I see a lot of potential for Munich to become an important tech hub globally.”
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A full focus on the founding was planned
He usually visits Gaza towards the end of the year. “However, after being accepted into the Antler program, which was scheduled to start in early October, I moved my trip forward,” Alwadia writes. “From then on, I wanted to concentrate fully on my start-up.”
Mahmoud Alwadi will spend his visit as a guest in his family’s house until October 7th. But just one day after Hamas’ attacks on Israel, he fled with his family. The house is in the countryside, near the Israeli border, he writes. It has now been partially destroyed by bombs. He initially stays with other family members in the center of the city of Gaza. “On the sixth day of the war, we fled to Rafah City, near the Egyptian border.”
“Our biggest concern is: We are risking our lives in a situation that we did not choose. We have nothing to do with what is happening, we mourn the deaths on both sides and we just want it to stop.”
Mahmoud Alwadia in front of the ruins of bombed-out houses in the immediate vicinity of his accommodation. Private
He writes that he and his family have narrowly escaped danger to their lives several times and sends a photo that shows him next to a bombed-out house. He writes: “This airstrike was so close, less than 150 meters from my accommodation. We could literally smell the blood and burning bodies and hear the screams of those who had been hit – it was horrific.”
“We live in uncertainty as to whether we will be dead in the next moment.”
He also describes how stressful the extreme situation is: “We live in uncertainty as to whether we will be dead in the next moment or not. We lack everything, care, sleep and food.” They have to queue for four to six hours to get drinking water. He has now lost ten kilos. “The simplest things become luxuries,” he writes, “like taking a shower.” They had now been living without electricity for 105 days. Without access to the internet and other communication channels, they felt increasingly isolated.
In addition, he is deeply sad and disappointed, writes the founder: “I was close to realizing my dream and creating something valuable, namely my company.” Until before the war, Alwadia worked on an ed-tech startup. An educational platform curated by experts that builds on existing Internet content, he explains. In some kind of networked classroom, direct communication between students and teachers should be possible without relying on traditional institutions. “In addition, the AI behind it actively tracks student progress to ensure they are progressing well and to improve the accessibility of learning content,” he writes. But now he’s stuck in Gaza. And is frustrated: “I couldn’t return to my normal life in Munich. And the country I love, my adopted home, has not provided the help I hoped for.”
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“Despite all the pain here, I’m holding on and trying to see it as another challenge that needs to be overcome,” writes the 27-year-old. “My biggest concern, however, is that the people of Gaza are losing hope for humanity. That would make it even harder to endure everything here. I keep reminding my family and friends that we just have to survive. Because there is a beautiful life waiting for us. The world is big, full of love and happiness, and everyone deserves a part of it.”
Alwadia sends us a photo: This is him on the beach in Rafah, after 50 days of war during the 6-day ceasefire. Private