Left to right, at Ben-Gurion University\u2019s Spark to Start-Up gala in Vancouver April 12: David Berson, Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, Michael Fugman, Martin Thibodeau, Caroline Desrosiers, Andrea Freedman and Adam Korbin. <\/i>(photo from BGU Canada)<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/i>Israel is set to catapult into an unparalleled era of economic and creative growth, according to Saul Singer.<\/p>\n
Singer is co-author, with Dan Senor, of the bestselling book, Startup Nation: The Story of Israel\u2019s Economic Miracle<\/i>, and their most recent book, the The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World.<\/p>\n
Singer made an analogy to a workout regimen in which people run with weights attached to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is, if you\u2019re running with weights and you take those weights off, it\u2019s really easy to run,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singer foresees something no less than \u201can opportunity to re-found the country.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The generation that has fought in Gaza and in Lebanon are going to return to civilian life and feel like weights have been lifted from their shoulders, he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to see tremendous growth,\u201d Singer said. \u201cA tremendous force of building and optimism.\u201d<\/p>\n Singer was in conversation with Niels Veldhuis, president of the Fraser Institute, at a gala event April 12 for Ben-Gurion University (BGU) Canada. Spark to Start-Up: Resilience Ignites Leaders took place at Beth Israel Synagogue and honoured community leader Michael Fugman. Revenue from the event supports Yazamut 360\u00b0 Entrepreneurship Centre at Ben-Gurion University (jewishindependent.ca\/creating-entrepreneurs).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Like Canada, Israel is a nation of immigrants, Singer pointed out. \u201cImmigrants are natural entrepreneurs,\u201d he said, noting that moving from one place to another takes drive and involves risks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In their books, Singer and Senor credit mandatory military experience with instilling entrepreneurial skills in young Israelis. Singer has three daughters in the army right now, and one was put in charge of liaising with suppliers around complex weaponries, a subject in which she had no background.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cShe said, \u2018How am I going to do that? I can\u2019t do it, any of this,\u2019\u201d Singer recounted. \u201cAnd, sure enough, a year later, she was doing it. Israelis go through this experience time and time again, and it really helps make them entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n Israeli society also benefits from being a unique hybrid of individualism and collectivity, he said. Most Western societies are becoming more polarized, with citizens dealing with mental health problems, depression and other consequences, which Singer puts down to, in part, \u201cthe unbridled march of individualism.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is unique about the Jews is that they\u2019re able to balance these two things: to be individual and yet have community,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of our superpower. I think it\u2019s a big chunk of why we survived for 2,000 years \u2026 and I think Israel has doubled down on it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou understand that you\u2019re part of something larger than yourself,\u201d he said, something that is emphasized by national service. \u201cService, by definition, is not just about you.\u201d<\/p>\n The evening\u2019s emphasis on entrepreneurship was underscored by Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, president of BGU. Under his leadership, the university launched a 10-year, $1 billion US global development campaign to double BGU\u2019s physical footprint in Beersheva and expand its research capabilities.<\/p>\n Chamovitz described BGU\u2019s venture capital initiative Cactus Capital, which provides funding to undergraduate students. \u201cWhat\u2019s unique about it,\u201d he said, \u201cis the advisory committee, which is dealing out the money, are also undergraduate students. We take our undergraduate students \u2026 train them as analysts and then give them the venture funds for them to fund different undergraduate ventures.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, three graduates of BGU\u2019s women entrepreneur program addressed the problem that women in religious, traditional communities, whether Muslim or Jewish, tend not to get routine mammograms. The students developed a wearable app that monitors breast density and uses an algorithm to alert a doctor to call the woman in for a mammogram. The company received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, and garnered seed funding of $26 million.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chamovitz summarized the ethos of David Ben-Gurion and of his eponymous university: \u201cThe possible we can do. The impossible takes a little bit longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Given the closure of Israeli airspace due to ongoing conflict, organizers had a backup plan if Singer could not make it to Vancouver. In the end, attendees got a double bill, with Nuseir Yassin joining the evening\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n Known online as Nas Daily, Yassin is a social media influencer with 68 million followers. He promotes peace and understanding with one-minute videos that focus on stories that highlight humanity and transcend political conflict.<\/p>\n Yassin was the first Arab Israeli to attend Harvard University.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter 19 years of being alive,\u201d he said, his arrival at Harvard was an awakening. \u201cI made my first Jewish friend, my first Israeli friend, my first female friend, my first gay friend, my first Black friend and my first Canadian friend. And, to be clear, these are not the same person.\u201d<\/p>\n Attending Harvard in the shadow of Mark Zuckerberg, entrepreneurship was in the zeitgeist, Yassin said.<\/p>\n After an unsatisfying time as a software engineer in New York, Yassin quit the 9-to-5 and started pumping out videos. He made a splash posting 1,000 videos in 1,000 days.<\/p>\n \u201cI made a video and I put it on the internet,\u201d he said. \u201cIt failed. Nobody saw it. I made another video, it failed. I made another 270 videos in 270 days, and they all failed until video 271 \u2013 and that became the beginning of what we know today as Nas Daily.\u201d<\/p>\n In the past 10 years, Yassin has visited 100 countries, but, when he is looking for fascinating story subjects, he realizes, he keeps coming back to Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time I was looking for people who think different to make videos about, I found them in Israel,\u201d he said. \u201cA vegan steak company: Israel. A technology to make cars drive: Israel. A security startup to hack your phone: Israel. Even my Singaporean team asked me, \u2018What\u2019s in the water in Israel?\u2019 And I told them, \u2018Nothing. It\u2019s not the water, you fool, it\u2019s the air.\u2019 The air in Israel is really different. If everyone around you is thinking of a startup idea, you think of a startup idea, too. If everyone is into tech, you are into tech. Humans are memetic animals. We mimic the people around us. It\u2019s as simple as that. And, clearly, the startup culture is super-contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n Yassin is now moving away from video creation and has launched a new venture. \u201cIt\u2019s an AI business platform,\u201d he said. \u201cIt helps anybody start a business just by taking a picture of what they want to sell. AI creates the store, it creates the marketing contents, the videos and the pictures and finds the customer.\u201d<\/p>\n Entrepreneurship \u2013 and Israeli entrepreneurship in particular \u2013 is an antidote to the negativity evoked by world news, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOpen your phone and it\u2019s all\u00a0<\/span>depressing,\u201d said Yassin. \u201cBut, in these moments, I remember Canada\u2019s greatest contribution to the world: hockey. And, in hockey, you don\u2019t skate to where the puck is. You skate to where the puck is going. That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing today \u2013 we\u2019re skating to where the puck is going. Even if today is super-depressing, the puck is going towards more peace, more collaborations, more entrepreneurship, less death, more prosperity…. So, the only option we have is to pick the damn puck up and push it forward together \u2013 and that, we can do.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Spark event honoured Michael Fugman, a community leader who has served on the boards of many organizations, including the United Way, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Richmond Country Club and the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. A former president of his family\u2019s apparel business, Fugman managed more than 100 staff and oversaw $100 million in annual sales. He is now in business development with PearTree Canada, a financial firm that created a system to help people donate to charities in a tax-efficient way. PearTree and RBC Royal Bank were the event\u2019s presenting sponsors.<\/p>\n Honorary co-chairs of the event, Caroline Desrosiers and husband Martin Thibodeau, who is regional president of RBC in British Columbia, presented Fugman with the BGU Canada Award for Outstanding Leadership. They were joined for the presentation by Chamovitz, BGU Canada chief executive officer Andrea Freedman, BGU Canada regional president Adam Korbin and BGU Canada regional director David Berson.<\/p>\n Fugman credited his family \u2013 going back to his immigrant grandparents \u2013 for instilling in him Jewish values, devotion to family and commitment to Israel. He noted his cousin Mordechai, who died, at age 17, in Israel\u2019s War of Independence. Fugman acknowledged his family in the audience, including wife Kathi.<\/p>\n Simon Margolis, who has known Fugman since Grade 1 at Vancouver Talmud Torah, was emcee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Left to right, at Ben-Gurion University\u2019s Spark to Start-Up gala in Vancouver April 12: David Berson, Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, Michael Fugman, Martin Thibodeau, Caroline Desrosiers, Andrea Freedman and Adam Korbin. (photo from BGU Canada) Israel is set to catapult into an unparalleled era of economic and creative growth, according to Saul Singer. 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