Empowering the future: Unistream's youth ventures awarded for entrepreneurial excellence
Empowering the future: Unistream's youth ventures awarded for entrepreneurial excellence
A group of third-year students from the Unistream Entrepreneurship Center in Beer Sheva won "Entrepreneur of the Year" for their venture aimed at enabling safe movement for individuals using motorized wheelchairs
A group of third-year students from the Unistream Entrepreneurship Center in Beer Sheva, Altshuler Shaham, won first place in the finals of the "Entrepreneur of the Year 2023" competition, named after the late Ted and Hedy Orden. The winning project aims to enable safe movement for individuals using motorized wheelchairs. Ariel Biton, the group's 16-year-old CEO, expressed excitement about the win and the opportunity to help people with physical disabilities. The startup emerged from meetings with members of the Ilan organization in Be'er Sheva.
The second place was secured by a group of teenagers from the Tirat Carmel Unistream Entrepreneurship Center, named after the Koenig family, who developed a salt substitute made from the Salicornia plant. Meanwhile, a group from the Afula Unistream Entrepreneurship Center named after Joan and Arthur Weisberg, won third place, working on a platform for finding experts in technological fields, providing immediate support. Alongside the top three developments, over 90 other startups, created by thousands of youth from around 80 localities across the country, participated in the competition. The event aimed to select the most outstanding project, and winners received a monetary award to further develop their ventures.
In the 2nd-year category, Unistream Julis Entrepreneurship Center supported by Bank Hapoalim secured the first place, while the 1st-year category had four winners: Nof HaGalil USAID Entrepreneurship Center, Amal Unistream Hadera Entrepreneurship Center, Unistream Acco USAID Entrepreneurship Center in partnership with the Bazen Group, and the Rahat Unistream Entrepreneurship Center. The crowd favorite category saw the second-year group from the Unistream Entrepreneurship Center Netanya supported by Menorah Mivtachim emerge as the winner.
The outstanding booth category honored the Kiryat Shmona-Kiryat Hinuch Ort Danziger group, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Vancouver. The Nocham group, from the Hila Tel Aviv program, secured victory in the NFTE category.
Unistream annually trains thousands of youth from all sectors and regions of the country in business and social entrepreneurship. Throughout the program, young participants develop innovative ventures, acquiring tools and skills from the worlds of entrepreneurship and innovation. This empowers them to dream big, enhance self-confidence, fulfill professional ambitions, and succeed in life. The program's mission revolves around reducing social gaps and creating an Inclusive Start-Up Nation through entrepreneurship education and fostering innovative thinking among youth from geographical and social peripheries. They are accompanied by thousands of high-tech businessmen and women from Israel and the world.
"Today more than ever, it is exciting and hopeful to see thousands of youth, from all over the country and from all sectors, presenting their ventures side by side,” said Ifat Bechor, the CEO of Unistream. “This event is proof for us that Unistream's vision is indeed being realized before our eyes. It is a great pride for us to see the support of the senior state officials in all major sectors in Unistream's work. We have an amazing youth in the geographical and social periphery of Israel who will be an important part of the core of entrepreneurial and business activity in the country.”
Bechor further told Calcalist: "This year I am prouder than any other year to do such a significant thing in Israel. We are engaged in reducing the socio-economic gap and provide an opportunity for equal quality employment. Diversity and inclusion were once talked about, but today it is a must - to bring the youth not only to unity but to engage in democracy, entrepreneurship, without taking things for granted. These tools are critical to our continued existence as a society. The circle of influence today must be diversified. The fact that a boy from East Jerusalem will work on a project with a boy from Kiryat Shmona or Rahat, if it doesn't happen and we don't have a common language then we will be lost. I was privileged to travel all over the country and our youth are amazing, the projects have a social impact, and this is the future."
According to Roni Tsarum, chairman and founder of Unistream: "When I founded the organization 22 years ago, the model was that of someone who grew up in Ramle and at the age of 16 looked for a job without success. I found a job in Tel Aviv teaching classes and selling books door to door. In my personal process I was exposed to amazing things, and a year later I opened my own venture. I was empowered during the process of becoming a young entrepreneur. In 2001 I made my exit and wondered how I could give back to the community. I thought this was the way to empower teenagers. Our organization is based on three main things: development of a business enterprise, development of a social enterprise and education for democracy and mutual respect. Our worldview is to bring the youth closer to the ability to establish their own start-ups, this empowers them and we have connected the business community to them. Today we have about 22 centers and we work with a one-year program in 85 locations throughout the country, and in addition to that we have close to 5,000 businessmen involved in the program and contributing as mentors, as judges in the annual competition, some of whom become our ambassadors."
Unistream works relentlessly to reduce the socio-economic gap and provide equal opportunities for quality employment. Diversity and inclusion are vital for engaging youth in democracy and entrepreneurship. Their aim is to foster mutual understanding, collaboration, and connections between youth from diverse backgrounds, contributing to the society.
