Keren Shemesh

Supporting Small Businesses in Israel’s Periphery

Keren-Shemesh helps young people from Israel’s social and economic periphery to start and grow their own small businesses, ensuring the next generation of job creation, employment and growth in Israel.

Keren-Shemesh’s work is driven by a network of volunteer mentors throughout Israel – senior figures from Israel’s business community – who give of their time and experience to help young people flourish.

Each year, 400 young people are accepted for a two-year Keren-Shemesh mentoring program. “Graduates” then become part of the Keren-Shemesh community, which now numbers more than 3,000 young entrepreneurs, and continue to benefit from the tools, services and network that Keren-Shemesh provides.

Small businesses have been devastated by the effects of COVID 19. Hundreds of young hard-working entrepreneurs from the Keren-Shemesh community are now in need of increased services to help survive the crisis and re-plan their business futures.

Emergency Scheme to Save Israel’s Non-Profits

Israel’s non-profit community, which carries out essential services in healthcare, welfare, education and more, is in crisis. In the wake of COVID-19, all three key non-profit revenue streams – government, earned income and philanthropy – are currently under threat.

In response, Keren-Shemesh has partnered with the Jewish Agency for Israel and Israel Venture Network to launch “Ment.Or”, a mentoring scheme specifically built to steer the CEOs of Israel’s non-profits through the crisis that threatens their organizaitions’ finances and programming.

The project brings together the collective resources of three organizations and a network of dedicated volunteers – leaders from Israel’s non-profit and business sector – to mentor, train and equip a cadre of non-profit CEOs with the skills and strategies to withstand and thrive in the period of enormous threat generated by the coronavirus and its economic fallout.