Promoting Diversity in Entrepreneurship: PresenTense Israel
Meet Or Huski
Or Huski works in the field of Social Entrepreneurship. She is the Jerusalem Ecosystem Manager of PresenTense Israel, an organization that aspires to make entrepreneurship accessible to the entire population of Israel. We spoke over coffee this week about the impact that PresenTense is having on Jerusalem and the country as a whole.
The Problem
Israel may be a hotspot for business, hi-tech, and entrepreneurship, but those industries are actually pretty limiting in terms of who can access them in the country. “Just about 85% of the population is not involved in the entrepreneurship scene in the country,” explains Or. PresenTense Israel’s mission is to change that, and it has already directly impacted the development of over 500 ventures to-date.
How It Works
The organization’s main goal is to make entrepreneurship accessible to 100% of the population. By working with diverse communities and supporting social entrepreneurs, PresenTense strives to create social change. Over the last decade, PresenTense has led 40 venture accelerators throughout the country, which all run programing and workshops for their participants. The educational programs of the accelerators are heavy on content, updated every six months to reflect changes in industry dynamics, and are sourced from many universities, most prominently Stanford and Harvard.
PresenTense specializes in adapting content to the different populations in each accelerator. PresenTense also provides employee training workshops for public and private organizations that want to promote creativity and innovation in the workplace.
Some Notable Programs
The best way to describe what PresenTense does is to talk about the programs that it runs. Take a look at some of the initiatives that have come out of the Jerusalem-based organization in the last few years:
Yazamiot
Finishing its fourth cohort, Yazamiot is the “only venture accelerator focused on small business development for ultra-Orthodox women.” The program takes place in conjunction with Temech, the American-Israeli Center for Promoting Economy and Employment in Israel.
Yezamim
A Jerusalem program that started eight years ago as the first social venture accelerator in the country. This program has graduated many organizations, one of which, Smartrent, is proposing a new method to reduce high pricing for houses in Jerusalem by establishing an ecological village next to Ramot. (Currently waiting for a permit from the municipality.)
LEAP
Already in its second round, LEAP is a social entrepreneurship program that “scales up” existing organizations and businesses by training them in “measurement and evaluation, marketing and financial sustainability” over the course of 15 seminars. The program provides participating organizations with helpful networks, connections, and expert mentors from a diverse array of fields.
In June, the LEAP accelerator hosted a “Shark Tank” concluding event in which five participating alumni organizations presented their cases to a panel of expert judges.
“Fuckup Nights” Jerusalem
PresenTense brought “Fuckup Nights” to Jerusalem 2 years ago (along with Siftech); it is an international movement that aims to highlight professional failures as catalysts for future successes. The events are fun and casual; they are great networking opportunities. Over the past year, “Fuckup Nights” has hosted 7 events with 26 speakers total, and has had over 2,000 people in attendance collectively.
A3I (Accelerating Inclusion in Israel, Raanana)
A3I is an assistive tech accelerator that provides training and networks to ventures that are working to improve quality of life for people with disabilities. The accelerator has had some exciting companies spring from it, including 6 degrees, a wearable technology that is designed to enable people with amputations to access smartphones, and Sesame Enable, that has created the first Touch-Free Smartphone.
What Comes Next?
Now that LEAP’s most recent accelerator program is finished, PresenTense Israel is already starting to plan for the coming year. Or was excited to tell me that she has assembled a “steering committee,” a bit like a think tank to determine the direction in which the PresenTense’s Jerusalem ecosystem should be heading. The committee is comprised of experts from various fields, including Michael Mizrahi, Director of the AtoBe accelerator, Lior Shabo from the Bloomberg Innovation Delivery Team, Tamim Saad, a financial policymaker for the Israeli government, Ariella Bernstein, Chief of Staff at The Jerusalem Foundation and more.
Be sure to keep up with PresenTense on Facebook and their website http://presentense.org/.
