Israel, with its thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, has become one of the most visited pilgrimage sites by Latin American entrepreneurs.
From the first time I stepped on Israel, I was impressed by its ability to overcome all barriers. After several trips, I realized that I had to design a program to take entrepreneurs from Argentina to Israel so that they could learn how things were done there in order to apply them to our country. Over the years, the initiative grew more and more, until reaching the point where we are today: four years of experience, more than 1,000 trained and inspired entrepreneurs from throughout the region including Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Peru.
Why Israel?
Because it is a country that has some 5,000 startups and an entrepreneurial ecosystem only comparable with Silicon Valley. Its IVC research center based in Tel Aviv reported that, in 2017, the total money raised from this business model was US $ 5,242 million. So much did this growth mean that today, Israel is the second country, not counting the United States, in number of companies listed on the Nasdaq: it is located behind China with 75 companies. To which is added the creation of 24 technological incubators that gave support to companies around the world in their initial phase, whether with capital, facilities and managerial support.
Israel is in the fifth position
In case there are doubts, Israel is in the fifth position in the Bloomberg Innovation Index 2019, climbing five places compared to the previous year. The same Bloomberg index classified the Middle East country as number 1 in research and development. This has a lot to do with its investment policy in this area: Israel spends more than $ 12.7 billion annually on research and development, which represents 4.3% of its total GDP.
Israel, a place with “real” entrepreneurs
In Israel there are entrepreneurs who set an international trend through the creation of disruptive companies that challenge the way in which we live. During the trips we organize with Innovation Experience, participants take the opportunity to train in different topics related to innovation and new ways of approaching business. Also, for an opportunity to show Venture capitals and international business innovators ideas that are being successfully implemented on the other side of the world.
Currently, Innovation Experience has trips and programs for young entrepreneurs as well as CEOs, founders and senior managers of companies. In the last four years 30 delegations from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Peru have traveled in which entrepreneurs, CEOs and managers of large companies such as Banco Hipotecario, Galicia, and Despegar participated.
Getting to the experience
There are cases of Argentines who repeated the experience more than once, and successfully: for example, Sergio D’Ippolito traveled three times (June, October and November 2018) and has successfully managed two companies. There is also the case of Gonzalo Innocenti, who used his experience to continue strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem in his native Mendoza.
Entrepreneurial initiative
The Argentine entrepreneurial initiative is a hallmark in the region and in the world, for something the national government and many provincial and municipal governments of Argentina are putting into practice programs aimed at promoting and sustaining this entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Argentina Emprende program and the Entrepreneurs Act sanctioned in 2017 form a vision of the future that ceased to be a trend to become a reality.
In a context of economic stagnation in the country, traveling to Israel through the Innovation Experience programs, is a good opportunity to motivate the entrepreneur that we all have inside, finding in this Asian country the knowledge, methodologies, business models and possible investment capitals, to turn your ideas into reality.