By Lianne Kolirin
Tech start-ups from Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox community gathered in London this week to raise awareness of the entrepreneurial spirit within their ranks.
Representatives of 21 fledgling companies flew into the UK for a whistlestop opportunity to pitch their products at a Dragons Den-style roadshow.
Among the companies, who are mostly based in either Jerusalem or Bnei Brak, a centre of Haredi Judaism near Tel Aviv, is one that aims to revolutionise medical cannabis treatment, one offering facial recognition software for wedding photography and an app that assists dyslexic readers.
The gathering, in the Fitzrovia area of central London, was run by Achim Global, a not-for-profit organisation that helps members of the Haredi community become financially independent by — according to its website — giving them the “the skills, knowledge and guidance needed to create a sustainable source of income”.
Poverty within Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox community is twice as high as among the main population, with nearly half falling below the poverty line, statistical analysis released by the Israel Democracy Institute revealed in January.
That month, The Times of Israel reported that in 2019 — the most recent year for which data was available — the poverty rate among Haredi Israelis was 44 per cent, against 22 per cent for the overall population. And 49 per cent of Haredi men were unemployed in 2021, compared with 14 per cent of the wider population.
This week’s event aimed to showcase innovative tech products and inventions, as well as a host of entrepreneurs.
Delegates represented a wide range of sectors, including medtech, AI and big data. One of the firms was marketing an interactive reader that allows books, articles, and any other text to be read aloud and presented to a listener, almost like a digital tutor. Another offers a 24/7 speech therapy service.
The event was organised by BizLabs, an initiative set up by Achim Global, which is committed to the sustainable and inclusive economic development of the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel. BizLabs aims to scale up Haredi tech start-ups “to join the tech ecosystem without compromising on their faith and values”.
Avraham Sheinfeld, chief executive of Novotalk, said: “There are many challenges facing Ultra-Orthodox entrepreneurs, such as understanding the required product, exposure to investors, language barriers, and much more.”
He said the roadshow helped businesspeople like him with network opportunities, training, and personal mentors, “all the while catering for our religious needs”. It also offered exposure to wider audiences and new business opportunities.
On Tuesday, the UK and Israel signed the 2030 Roadmap for UK-Israel Bilateral Relations, boosting economic, security and technology ties.
“We could not have chosen a better time,” Motti Eichler, co-founder of Achim Global, said of the roadshow. “We have seen at first hand how business and tech can unite people.
“Our work supporting Haredi entrepreneurship and employment reflects this, uniting an Israel that is often seen as divided and fractured by not focusing on our differences but on our connections. Coming to the UK with our cohort of tech start-ups and witnessing this momentous agreement is testament to a changing, more united future.”
