Dear Members,
During Covid small businesses have greatly suffered from a reduction both in activity and income. In an attempt to combat this, ICA granted a successful pilot study for 20 Negev businesses in 2020.
In 2021 ICA increased its Negev 19 grant to cover 40 additional small businesses.
Last week Negev19 sent a report summarizing the achievements of these 60 small Negev businesses. We also had the opportunity to hear from three managers who described how this program has affected their actions, leading to an income upsurge. The report is in Hebrew and so I present the main conclusions:
- Because the Solomoto software has proven to be very successful, the program operators have decided to translate it into Arabic, making it available for the Arab sector.
- It was decided that Negev19 will expand its activities to the Galilee next year.
- The western Galilee cluster, comprised of 13 regional & local Councils, will conduct the first pilot study in the north. A proposal will be submitted to ICA in 2022.
ICA can once again take pride in its initiative by starting the ball rolling….
Ze’ev
