Five One Labs — Iraq's Incubator for Local and Displaced Entrepreneurs

Five One Labs is a startup incubator headquartered in Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, with a second hub in Erbil, founded in 2017 after a $30,000 crowdfunding campaign and an initial 'Summer Startup Festival' that drew over 300 aspiring entrepreneurs. It was built specifically to serve both local Iraqi entrepreneurs and displaced or conflict-affected founders, including refugees, in a business environment where registering a company requires an office, a lawyer and an accountant.

The organisation runs a three-month, full-time incubator programme offering training, mentorship from a network of 46 experts, and direct seed funding, plus a dedicated Female Founders Fellowship and an early-stage investment initiative, Five One Invest.

By its own most recent published figures, Five One Labs has run 11 incubator cohorts graduating 130 startups and supporting over 1,000 entrepreneurs in total, awarding more than $830,000 in seed funding, of which 61% went to women-led ventures, with 47% female participation overall and conflict-affected founders averaging about 30% of each cohort. An early cohort independently tracked by Arab News in 2019 had graduated 11 businesses, including a buffalo dairy farm, a babysitting service and a medical-technology platform.

These are self-reported cumulative totals rather than independently audited figures, and the organisation remains donor-funded — backed by Spirit of America and the Dutch-government-linked Orange Corners programme — rather than financially self-sustaining.