IVN is thrilled to welcome these exception social businesses:
The Bar Kayma, established in 2012 in response to the 2012 social protests, is a cooperative located in a very run-down area of the Florentine neighborhood of southern Tel Aviv. Jointly owned by its customers and employees, Bar Kayma is quickly becoming a hub for social activity in Tel Aviv, creating a network of community run ventures solving social challenges. Its 4 floors play host to a vegan pub and restaurant, a community center for workshops and lectures and a green roof laboratory. Bar Kayma’s articles of association state that dividends are not payed out to the members, but that any and all profit must be invested back into the local community.

Throughout Israel, thousands of talented women are unemployed; thousands more are underemployed, working in jobs for which they are overqualified. Why?  Because they have young children and can’t work the hours that are required.  Jobs4mom.co.il is an online job search platform geared toward mothers seeking quality full and part-time jobs that have the flexibility necessary to combine parenting and a career that utilizes their skills and experience.  Jobs4moms is a meeting place for potential employers and job-seeking mothers and lists mom-friendly jobs – positions that offer employees flexibility in work hours.

Susan’s House was established in 2002 as a memorial to Susan Kaplansky and employs at-risk teens, ages 15 to 18 – disconnected youths out of school, out of work, and in other high-risk situations. Active in the production and sale of unique glass, jewelry and housewares, the teens at Susan’s House, under the guidance and instruction of adults, social workers and volunteer artists, not only develop job skills, but also acquire life skills and develop self-esteem & confidence, communal values and interpersonal relationships.

Every year, 40,000 university students reside in Jerusalem. Finding suitable and affordable housing and reliable, reasonably priced housing services is extremely difficult, especially as one individual. In response to last summer’s social protests against increasingly prohibitive cost-of-living standards, UniverCity was established. UniverCity, a social business active throughout Jerusalem in collaboration with the Hebrew University’s Student Union, is leveraging the large numbers of students and young people that require housing and housing services in the Jerusalem area every year and negotiating better prices and providing solutions to the broad variety of problems that students face.

The estimated number of registered NGOs in Israel is 25,000, with a 7% growth rate every year. 10% of the Israeli workforce is employed in the third sector (approx. 369,000 jobs). However, there exists a gap between the professional growth & development of these organizations and their HR structures. In response to this need, Mitam was established, providing a variety of professional, high quality recruitment and human resource services to non-profits in a sector in Israel that typically lacks the knowledge and financial capacity to hire full-time HR professionals,  thus strengthening management and as a result, the effectiveness of the organizations.

Also presenting at the event were two more IVN ventures, Sumsum and Kelim Shluvim, both of whom joined in 2012.

To read more about these IVN ventures and others, click here.
We have since received wonderful feedback regarding the sense of community that the evening created, together with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and commitment regarding the emerging world of social enterprise in Israel.

To see photos from the event, click here.

To apply, click here

Along with the financing, as part of IVN’s Social Venture Program, the selected social businesses will receive comprehensive support in the form of mentoring by Israel’s business leaders and capacity building assistance.

To read the complete article in Hebrew, click here.

Source: TheMarker, June 12, 2013

At the end of May 2013, Ecommunity inaugurated its new facility. Ecommunity CEO Danny Kogen and Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz cut the ceremonial ribbon.

Ecommunity joined IVN’s portfolio in late 2012 as part of the Social Venture Program.

To read more about Ecommunity and the inauguration, click here.

Photo: Courtesy of the Environmental Protection Ministry

Also present at the conference was renowned economist and Nobel Prize recipient, Muhammad Yunus (portrayed in picture next to Jackie Goren)

To read about Jackie’s experience and the lessons learned in regards to the Israeli social business sector, click here (in Hebrew)

Amongst the almost 70 guests were distinguished partner Mr. Barak Loozon, Director for Young Adult Engagement to Israel at the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco; Prof.  Shlomo Mor-Yosef, Director General of Bituach Leumi; Ms. Judith Yovel Recanati; Dr. Ronit Amit, Executive Director of the Recanti Family’s Gandyr Foundation; Ms. Ella Alkalai, VP at IBI; Mr. Nechemia (Chemi) Peres, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Pitango Veture; Mr. Uzi Dayan, National Lottery (Mifal Hapayis) Chairman; Mr. Shmuel Levy, Managing Partner at Sequoia Capital Fund; Mr. Shai Beilis, Managing Partner at Formula Ventures & IVN Mentor; Ms. Iris Reff-Ronen, CEO of Unistream; Mr. Avi Shapira, CEO of NPTech; many more leading executives from Israel’s business community; IVN board members, members and mentors (members of the IVN network, who are among the leading entrepreneurs in Israel and the US with years of business, strategic, marketing, funding, technical, and financial expertise to share with IVN entrepreneurs) and IVN supported entrepreneurs.

The appetizing lunch was followed by a speech from IVN’s Vice Chairman, Mr. Benny Levin, who spoke about social investment as the way to generate social impact and about IVN’s Tandem Fund, where every dollar invested is cycled back through the fund — repaid by the social enterprise, then invested back into other enterprises for a leveraged, long-lasting impact.
We are grateful to our initial group of Tandem investors: the Jewish Community Federation (JCF) of San Francisco, Bank Mizrahi and IBI Investment House.

Three IVN-supported entrepreneurs (current and alumni) spoke about their enterprises and about their partnership with IVN. The speakers included: Ms. Shirley Katzir – Cinderella; Mr. Amiad Lapidot – Eretz Carmel; Mr. Avi Shapira – NPTech.

To read more about these IVN ventures and others, click here.

The event launched IVN’s Tandem Fund, a fund dedicated to creating opportunity and sustainable social change by investing in social enterprises that pursue innovative and entrepreneurial solutions to social challenges– through IVN’s Social Venture Program.
The event was filled with interesting speakers and scintillating conversations and presented a marvelous opportunity to learn and network.

To see pictures from the event, click here.

To read an article (in Hebrew) about the event published on April 24, 2013 in Globes, click here.

To read the full article in Hebrew, click here.

On March 6th at 12:40, Taly Dunevich, IVN’s US Director, participated in a roundtable titled Driving Social Impact in Israel. The moderator was Yadin Kaufmann, Founder & Chairman of Tmura.

On the same day at 4:30, IVN’s chairman Eric Benhamou took part in the panel Creating Global Impact: Venture Philanthropy & Social Entrepreneurship. The moderator for this panel was Marc Pollick, President and Founder – The Giving Back Fund.

In a thank-you note the organizer Zeev Klein, General Partner, Landmark Ventures said: “On behalf of all the event partners, I personally want to thank you again for participating in the annual Israel Dealmakers Summit last week in New York… what an experience!!! The 5th Annual Summit was a HUGE success and sparked key dialogues on the impact of Israeli innovation across the global marketplace.”

Pictures from the summit, and from Mr. Benhamou’s talk at the event can be seen here.

To read the full article in Hebrew, click here

Source: TheMarker, March 12, 2013