SoGal Tel Aviv: Supporting Women as Entrepreneurs by Building a Strong Community

Women represent over 50% of the world’s population but only 39% of the global workforce, and their work accounts for even less of the world’s GDP. Researchers have shown that if women and men participated equally in the workforce, the world economy would grow 11% by 2025, representing an addition of $12 trillion to the global GDP. Moreover, if women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs, the global GDP would grow by 3-6% ⁠ — a contribution of $2.5-5 trillion per year to the world economy.

Closing the gender gap

In order to close the gender gap, men and women require different sources of motivation. In this article I want to focus on the part that women’s social networks can play. According to a study by BCG, a leading global consulting group, women’s social networks can contribute to their success both as employees and as entrepreneurs. Successful social networks need to contain three factors: intention, inclusion and interaction.

Intention — The social network should be more than just a list of names and phones; it should be an active source of information, and answer questions such as: What can women gain from joining the network? How can the network help women achieve their goals in a tangible way?

Inclusion — The social network should have an active leadership structure. The network should also include existing and new entrepreneurs from a variety of cultural and professional backgrounds.

Interaction — The network should help create connections between its members in both formal and informal contexts, as well as long-term interactions that are based on trust.

Building a community that is based on the three components defined by BCG gives women the opportunity to feel comfortable in their environment, to express concerns and feelings that are common only to them, and to share the professional processes they go through as women in the world of entrepreneurship. Communities that are led by a female majority are characterized by a sense of belonging, ease and solidarity. There are studies that show that women tend to exhibit high emotional intelligence and supportiveness; working in a shared space with people who have these qualities can empower women in business and provide motivation and role models that are easy for them to identify with.

Galit Ben Simhon, CEO, entrepreneur and founder of Panthera, a community that promotes gender equality, social diversity and businesses owned by women, understands the need of women for workspaces and communities specifically designed for them: “As someone who has held a number of senior positions in some of the largest organizations in Israel, I can say that you are up there alone: there are almost no women and most of the time we are in a male environment. That’s how I realized that women, in order to grow, need a supportive environment that they will feel comfortable in. Following this I set up Panthera together with Limor Dahan to give women a platform to maximize their abilities⁠ — and it does work”.

SoGal in Israel

The more diverse women’s communities we have, the more women we can help to develop their careers and their entrepreneurial ambitions. And now that Covid-19 has disrupted so many women’s professional journeys, we need more than ever to help each other and to bolster our communities. My name is Ilana Liberman and together with Adi Geron, I established the Israeli chapter of SoGal. SoGal is a community that is redefining the next generation of diverse founders and funders; our mission for the Israeli chapter is to connect local diverse women entrepreneurs to the global SoGal community for collaboration and support. If you’d like to learn more, we’d love to hear from you at telaviv@iamsogal.com.