Parachute16 and YOUMNA have entered a strategic partnership designed to strengthen how founders across the MENA region build and scale their companies. The collaboration combines Parachute16’s ecosystem-building and market access capabilities with YOUMNA’s operational delegation and executive support offering. Together, they aim to help founders move faster externally while building stronger internal systems and leadership capacity.
A Partnership Built Around Founder Needs
The alliance was announced by Parachute16 founder and CEO Ghassan Halawa and YOUMNA founder Dana Shaheen as a deliberate move to close a persistent gap facing regional entrepreneurs. Many founders are under constant pressure to expand into new markets, engage investors, and grow revenue, yet they struggle with operational overload and weak delegation structures. By aligning their services, the two organizations intend to address both sides of the equation, growth on the outside and efficiency on the inside.
How the Collaboration Will Work in Practice
Under the partnership, founders within Parachute16’s network will gain structured access to YOUMNA’s delegation system and remote Executive Partners. These professionals will act as a trusted right hand, handling operational, administrative, and selected strategic tasks that typically consume a founder’s time and attention. The goal is to keep founders one step ahead by freeing them to focus on high-value decisions, investor conversations, and market opportunities rather than day to day execution bottlenecks.
Parachute16’s Role in the MENA Entrepreneurship Ecosystem
Since its establishment in 2015, Parachute16 has evolved from designing social entrepreneurship and community development programs in Jordan into a regional innovation partner. Over the years, it has launched and operated acceleration programs, corporate innovation initiatives, and ecosystem projects across multiple sectors and geographies, including Saudi Arabia. Today, Parachute16 runs leading programs and innovation districts that serve more than 150 startups and SMEs, supported by a broad network of experts, mentors, and industry partners.
YOUMNA’s Delegation-First Value Proposition
YOUMNA, headquartered in Dubai, focuses on one core problem for founders and senior leaders, the constant drag of operational and administrative work. Its model offers remote Executive Partners who step in as a high impact right hand, taking ownership of execution tasks while introducing structured delegation practices. By combining hands on support with coaching on workflows, prioritization, and communication, YOUMNA helps clients reclaim time, improve productivity, and operate with far greater clarity.
Strategic Impact for Founders Across the Region
By joining forces, Parachute16 and YOUMNA are positioning themselves as a combined support layer that spans ecosystem access, growth enablement, and executive operations. Founders engaged with Parachute16 will not only gain exposure to markets, investors, and sector specific programs, they will also be able to embed stronger internal systems to handle that growth. This integrated approach is framed by both organizations as a step toward a more effective and resilient entrepreneurial infrastructure in MENA, where founders are supported both strategically and operationally.
The memorandum of understanding between Parachute16 and YOUMNA signals a targeted shift in how founder support is being designed in the region. Rather than treating market access, capital, and internal execution as separate challenges, the partnership seeks to align them within a single, coordinated offering. If executed as intended, it could provide a playbook for other ecosystem players looking to move beyond generic support and toward more holistic, execution ready services for high potential founders.