CTalk"Supporting entrepreneurs with different backgrounds really strengthens the ecosystem"
CTalk
"Supporting entrepreneurs with different backgrounds really strengthens the ecosystem"
Google for Startups Israel Head Yuval Passov spoke to CTech at Unistream’s Entrepreneur of the Year competition about how to best support entrepreneurs from different backgrounds
Yuval Passov
(Credit: Tal Azoulai)
“I just spent the last 40 minutes seeing great startups, mostly from the South, and it's amazing to see how much they did in a very short time,” said Google for Startups Israel Head Yuval Passov to CTech at Unistream’s Entrepreneur of the Year competition. “I saw some startups from East Jerusalem, from Rahat, from Beer Sheva, from Eilat, and I think that usually if we are based in Tel Aviv, we don't have this opportunity to see what's coming out of different areas.”
“It's so important to have a diverse group of founders, because each group comes with different ideas and different challenges and comes up with different solutions.” Passov spoke about two examples of startups that are working with Google for Startups that represent this idea, including a female founder who is working on an IVF solution and an Arab founder who has created an AI-based charity platform for the Arab sector.
At the event itself, Passov was impressed by one project in particular. “I met a group of founders from East Jerusalem, women founders. I saw their passion about developing an app that will prevent harassment for women in East Jerusalem. When I asked how did you come up with this idea, they told me because it happened to them. A young guy from Tel Aviv may come up with some great ideas, but he would never think about this problem, this challenge and this solution. So I think that in supporting entrepreneurs with different backgrounds, we're really strengthening the ecosystem.”
Unistream annually trains thousands of high school students from all sectors and regions of the country in business and social entrepreneurship. The program's goal is to reduce social inequalities and create a more inclusive society through entrepreneurship and innovation among youth from underserved communities. The students are mentored by members of Israel’s tech ecosystem throughout the duration of the program.
You can watch the full interview in the video above.
