"Women entrepreneurship is our national resilience"

"This was one of the most exciting events of my life. A wide variety of local and Israeli industry executives were present in the hall, who came to support the Southern entrepreneurs affected by the war. I foresee significant collaborations for them soon. Calcalist is a significant and important partner for the organization and entrepreneurship in general. I'm excited about the opening of the New York Entrepreneurship Community and grateful to Arieli Capital and the other partners for supporting the organization," said Hilla Ovil-Brenner, founder of Yazamiyot and a Partner at Arieli Capital.

"I founded the Yazamiyot organization 14 years ago with the agenda of promoting women entrepreneurs in Israel and around the world," Ovil-Brenner said at the panel held as part of the Mind the Tech New York conference. "But in times of war, the vision of a Yazamiyot organization becomes more important and significant than ever. I am proud that we were able to help female entrepreneurs in the south during this difficult time and establish, together with our partners, a vibrant and meaningful southern community. Women entrepreneurship is essentially our national resilience."

Also participating in the panel were: Noa Tamir, CEO of Calcalist; Iya Magen, CEO of Talma Travel; Keren Fox, co-founder of Yazamiyot Canada ; Sharon Fridrich Peled - Sales & Markets Development Manager at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE); Selma Bueno, Global Head of Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Group; and Yael Shemer, Co-founder and CCO at TULU.

Noa Tamir, CEO of Calcalist, said that she is very excited by the opportunities and challenges facing Israeli high-tech. "I have one request from the women here - don't stop. We stand here together for all the women who are struggling."

Fridrich Peled said: "I am very happy to be here as a representative of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that has seen a significant change in recent years that allows small tech companies to enter the stock market. We produce the most advanced technologies in the world despite the small population, but we must know that there is a significant contribution of women in innovation - and they have broken down barriers and proved that gender is not a barrier. We see an increasing number of female entrepreneurs who establish companies and the sector needs to be encouraged to establish more such companies, but there is still a long way to go. The number of companies founded by women is 25% according to a Google study. Studies even prove that women in senior positions help the business development of the company and its resilience. We need to help women support and strengthen female entrepreneurship in the industry."

Magen said that "In my case, I'm a big believer in entrepreneurship and along the way I've learned a lot of lessons that I'm happy to share with you. When I started at El Al and I was part of the marketing team - I was lucky that someone there believed in me and along the way I learned a lot. If you weren't born that way you still have a chance to be like that. I believe that you are in your best place when you have nothing to lose. Entrepreneurs must believe in their own way. Talma Travel was supposed to be issued in 2020 and on March 14th all our employees were put on furlough due to the pandemic - from here we learned to believe that there are no comfort zones. Always push the limits and don't compromise on what you love."

Fox said: "I'm launching Yazamiyot Canada this summer and Noa Zohar is launching Yazamiyot New York." Marcus told the conference that she invests in companies founded by women through the company Brilliant Friends. "The world wouldn't be a good place if there were only men in tech, and that's why I set up an initiative of investing in entrepreneurship that recorded quite a number of successes."

Bueno from the Morgan Stanley investment bank heads a company accelerator designed for underprivileged female entrepreneurs. "Even though I don't come from the technological world and am part of the traditional banking world, I had the good fortune to lead our company accelerator that helps all those companies that find it difficult to reach the next level."