Pursuing a career as an entrepreneur is undoubtedly for the unconventional. It takes being a particularly bold woman to choose this path, and even more so to leave everything behind and make aliyah. Among Israel's extraordinary society, made up of a one-of-a-kind, international melting pot, are these ambitious businesswomen, bravely striving to integrate into a new environment at a time when community is a most valuable resource. Local communities "Kehila" and "HER Tel Aviv," focused on helping women adapt during this transition, joined forces to present an unprecedented networking event in Tel Aviv on August 27.

Kehila, founded by Grace Lancer and Hanna Shtein, fosters an environment where female business owners can network, share ideas, and promote their services. The community welcomes a diverse range of professionals through bi-weekly meetings. While these gatherings have typically been small-scale, the recent event, co-hosted with HER, marked a significant expansion. HER, founded by Israeli-American Sivan Hadari Avneri, aims to create a safe space for women who have made aliyah, focusing on small business owners, women in tech, health, fertility, careers, and even facilitating new friendships. The platform also features a job board and marketplace.

"When I made aliyah, even being half Israeli and half American, I myself found it challenging to adapt to Israeli culture," Hadari Avneri told the crowd of 100 women at the event. "I left my whole family in New York and I was here by myself. And there's all these challenges that all of you face, which is not knowing the language or trying to get together with a culture that's a little bit more chutzpah than you're used to at home, or finding an apartment, finding a job, finding girlfriends. You just start from zero because you're a Zionist, which is not a dirty word. You're a Zionist and you want to be here." 

"Hanna and I started Kehila at the beginning of this year," Grace added. "The reason was that we both come from cities like London and LA, where networking is a really big thing. We wanted to create a space to bring English-speaking female entrepreneurs together in Tel Aviv because we felt like there was a gap in the market for this."

As the sold-out event began, attendees were each assigned to one of ten groups, indicated by a number on their name tag. Each group was given a designated area and a question sheet to facilitate networking. This structured approach proved helpful, as even outgoing individuals like myself initially found it intimidating to mix and mingle with such a large and diverse group.

In the blink of an eye, the room was gushing with passionate conversations, discussions, and laughter. "I hate the word networking because a lot of the time it's fake," Hanna said. "We wanted it to be a genuine space where people could form relationships first, and business connections could naturally follow. We think that the best business connections come from real relationships." 

This approach proved successful, as evidenced by the diverse attendance, including a notable presence of local Israelis alongside women from all over the world. While chatting with two friends at the event – a jewelry maker and a tour guide – I gained insight into the high demand for such gatherings. "I don't see these kinds of events in Israel often, so I knew I had to come," one of them remarked.

The event's complete success became evident as even I, to my surprise, unintentionally made new friendships and connections, got tips, and brainstormed ideas on various subjects. "Isn't this just amazing?" an enthusiastic, frequent participant asked me on her way out. As the event drew to a close, women of all ages were still actively connecting, wholeheartedly expressing their gratitude to Sivan, Grace, and Hanna. What began as a room of timid individuals transformed into a community connecting Israeli female entrepreneurs on both personal and professional levels, marking the beginning of a new era for women in Tel Aviv's entrepreneurial scene.

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Tel Aviv University has been ranked the world's fifth most-leading school for entrepreneurship by Startup Genome, an international policy advisor and research organization that every year names the globe's top institutions.

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It is the only Israeli university to have made the list and the only non-American school to have ranked in the top five, following Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University.

The ranking reflects the involvement of alumni at the world's leading universities in entrepreneurship, and in the establishment of scale-up companies, meaning companies that have advanced beyond the startup stage and whose worth is estimated at $50 million or more.

A report by Startup Genome said that about 1,300 TAU alumni have gone on to found active companies in a wide range of fields over the last decade, 40 of which have become scale-up companies.

"This is a very significant achievement for both Tel Aviv University and Israel," Professor Moshe Zviran, dean of TAU's Coller School of Management and Chief Entrepreneurship and Innovation said.

"The Startup Genome ranking is a standard of entrepreneurial excellence of the highest level in the world. Israel in general, and TAU as its leading entrepreneurial university, form fertile ground for uniquely creative young entrepreneurs who establish independent companies and hold key positions in the world's leading corporations.

"The rich toolbox which our students acquire during their studies serves them well when they enter the job market. We are proud of our alumni and students for this achievement and will continue to fortify TAU's position in the top echelons of global entrepreneurship," Zviran said.

The Israeli institution is followed in the ranking by Cornell University, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University.

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"Israel's reputation as an entrepreneurial powerhouse is arguably most evident in New York City, where it's nearly impossible to walk a block without encountering its influence," the independent study conducted for the New York-Israel Business Alliance states.

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Between 2009 and 2018, 436 Israeli companies were founded and maintained offices across New York state.

The study found that there are over 500 Israeli companies that have directly employed 24,850 New Yorkers today, while another 27,502 saw employment as a result of the additional support needed by these companies.

Between 2016 and 2018, considerable statistics found that Israeli businesses had a 9.5% year-over-year profit growth rate, while the rest of the state grew at less than half of that rate at 4.2%.

Five Israeli start-up companies whose valuations exceed $1 billion – also referred to as "unicorns" – such as WeWork and Taboola, are considered New York-born and bred.

As a result of limiting economic factors that Israeli entrepreneurs face at home, these self-starters feel compelled to explore more global markets in creative and technologically innovative ways. This has helped the Empire State establish itself as "a global innovation leader."

The real estate, financial services, fashion, marketing, and culinary sectors are where Israeli labor is most represented in New York state's economy.

Israel's additional industrial strengths like artificial intelligence, drones, cyber-security, life sciences, renewable energy, and agriculture serve as potential assets, with both New York City and state hailing their operational efforts in improving each of the sectors.

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The data, from the Central Bureau of Statics and the MATI Jerusalem Business Development Center in Judea and Samaria, was presented at an entrepreneurial conference in Samaria, the first such conference of its kind.

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In a sign of the region's growing tourism industry, the most prominent field of business in Judea and Samaria is the service industry, in particular food and hospitality services, followed by industry and health services and skincare.

Conference attendees welcomed the Tourism Ministry's recent decision to incentivize entrepreneurs to build hotels in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, in the form of grants to entrepreneurs at a 20% rate of the total investment.

According to Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, "Entrepreneurship is in Samaria's DNA. The reason for this is, on the one hand, the distance from the cities, and the other hand, an active population that came here to settle and to build and therefore is no stranger to entrepreneurship."

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