Entrepreneurship

Launching of “Starting Up Together”

We recently had our 3 day “Starting Up Together” seminar with the The Peres Center for Peace & Innovation. This seminar was the first session of an annual program that aims to help budding entrepreneurs, who have a passion for action and motivation to get the tools needed to turn their ambitions of entrepreneurship and startups into reality.

During these 3 days, 28 participants came together from all parts of Israeli society. We had religious and secular Jewish, Bedouin, Arab, Druze and Christian participants. Creating a mosaic showing the beauty and potential of our society. Some of the participants entered the program with concerns, doubting they can deal with the challenges in light of the complex reality. Those concerns were replaced throughout the seminar by feelings of hope and a desire to help create a better shared society.

At the end of the seminar, we were privileged to hear a very moving statement, one of many optimistic responses, from a participant from Ashkelon who came in with concerns saying:

"This is the first time I am in a shared group with Arabs and actually the first time I get to talk to Arabs. Programs like this can change a lot in Israel in the relations between Arabs and Jews. I have a lot to tell my family. I am very happy to be here."

Many of the participants also expressed their desire to stay in touch with each other after the seminar ends, and we hope this is only the beginning of their collaboration and friendship.