On March 19th, GEN Israel partnered with SHEvyon (which concentrates on gender inequality), for its annual women-centered event, which focused on Entrepreneurship, Investments, and Management. Some of Israel’s prominent women entrepreneurs and managers were either on stage or in the audience.
One of our speakers was Shir Nosatzki, a social entrepreneur, co-founder & director of “Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?”, a non-profit organization working to promote Jewish-Arab partnership and strengthen the legitimacy of the Arab community as an equal partner in the decision-making processes in Israel.
Shir shared her insights. Soon after the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians on October 7th, it was clear that the delicate fabric of shared Jewish-Arab life in Israel was under threat. Have You Seen the Horizon Lately? quickly joined forces with partners and established a joint center, operated by volunteers, Jewish and Arab alike. Over the past 5 months, the center has provided hundreds of humanitarian relief parcels of food and other crucial equipment every week to Jewish and Arab families harmed by the hostilities.
Soon enough the Joint Center became a beacon of light, trust, hope, and solidarity between the two communities in these dark days. It echoes the ever-growing importance of the message that Jews and Arabs in this country are not only partners in pain and loss but also in the efforts to rebuild the country after the traumatic events of that terrible Saturday. Please find below additional information about the Center, including a CNN report, relevant videos, and more.
A second speaker at the GEN Israel event was Zada Haj, whose work focuses on empowering women and sustainable growth.
Zada mentioned several statistics relating to the rise of MENA Gender lens investing: While women make up only 21% of the labor force and only contribute 18% to MENA’s overall GDP, the MENA region is witnessing a positive shift in norms towards investing in women. Zada operates from Israel but has worked with partners from the Gulf Cooperation Countries and other MENA countries.
As mentioned above, the Women in Decision-Making Junctions 2030 event took place in partnership with SHEvyon, which aims to create a shift in mindset by tackling gender inequality challenges, and with the support of the US Embassy in Israel, IBI Investment House, one of Israel's largest capital market companies; Poalim Bank – one of Israel’s two largest banks; Google for Startups; and Tsofen, which deploys an innovative model for inclusion of the Arab minority through Hi-Tech.
Over the years, GEN Israel has worked to promote tech entrepreneurship in the Arab minority and help strengthen the network available to Arab tech entrepreneurs.
Over the past 8 years, GEN Israel was invited to launch Global Entrepreneurship Week at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and we have made a point of having representatives of the Arab tech entrepreneurship on stage with us, including member of the GEN Israel management committee Reem Younis, co-founder and owner of Alpha Omega, which won Israel’s most prestigious award, the Israel Industry Leaders Award (2018), and Nora Nseir, co-founder and CTO of Nurami Medical, whose company sets an example of bridging across religion and culture.
GEN Israel and the Arab Minority
Israel’s Arab population comprises over 20% of the Israeli society. Many cross-cultural connections were established between the Jewish and Arab communities, led by the medical and high-tech verticals, now threatened by the recent events. This makes our bridging activity more important than ever before.
Over the years GEN Israel has been working to connect Israeli Jews and Arabs who share a common interest in tech entrepreneurship.
One of our activities, the Entrepreneurial Mixer, brings together entrepreneurs to share their networks, providing a handle that will help interested parties reach out to new partners, markets, and investors. Such meetings have taken place in Nazareth and Haifa, Kafr Qara, and Jerusalem (the latter included entrepreneurs from East Jerusalem).
We have also had some of Israel’s best Arab entrepreneurs join our “Roots” initiative, which brings entrepreneurs to the schools where they studied, providing a role model for the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Another initiative, English Connect, matches English speakers from the Jewish community and Arabs in high-tech who wish to improve their English. The mentor-mentee meetings take place either face-to-face or over the Internet.
GEN Israel is proud to be a licensed affiliate of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, which operates programs in 200 countries aimed at making it easier for anyone anywhere to start and scale a business.
APPENDIX: Further details about “Have you seen the Horizon Lately?”
Over the past months, the Joint Center was honored with visits of both local and foreign dignitaries, including the US Ambassador to Israel Mr. Jacob J. Lew, Israel’s President Mr. Isaac Herzog, and cabinet member Benny Gantz. The center furthermore received wide coverage, both local and international, including:
- CNN | Relief and food supplies headed to Israel's Bedouin community
- Jewish Insider | Jews, Bedouins unite in face of Hamas terror attacks on Israel
- Haaretz | ‘We’re in This Together’: Viral Videos Spotlight Arab-Israeli Heroes …
- NYT | Israel’s Hidden Victims, Arab Bedouins, Were Attacked by Hamas Too
- i24 | Emergency Center Brings Relief to Bedouin Communities
- NYT | The Rescuers
Additionally, since October 7th, Have You Seen the Horizon Lately? initiated a media campaign featuring the stories of loss and heroism of both Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel who survived the brutal attack by Hamas and have bravely saved lives on that black day. The purpose of the campaign is to showcase the fact that Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel share a fate in this country and are partners not only in pain but also in the efforts to save lives. The three videos produced so far have reached a combined audience of over 6 million.
Here are the first three videos produced for the campaign: