Our trip certainly kicked off with a bang today! It was a jam-packed day full of a range of speakers, each more interesting than the last.
We began bright and early at TEVA, a large pharmaceutical company and Israel’s largest company. Yehuda Livaneh spoke to our group on the history of TEVA and its strengths and weaknesses in the years to come. It was fascinating to have an inside look at one of the most iconic Israeli companies and delve into the strategies TEVA employs to become such an icon. Dr. Livaneh’s presentation felt like a case study we would analyze in class brought to life in that conference room.
We hopped onto the bus and traveled over to the Tel Aviv Israel R&D center, a behemoth that requires no introduction. We were briefed on the incredible products coming out the center and received a tour of the office. The research and development center is a direct product of the Israeli culture to push the norm and challenge standards to create revolutionary products.
Google Instant, Google Suggest, YouTube Annotations and the Dead Sea Scroll Project can all be attributed to this tiny office’s work. The office itself epitomizes the “modern office.” Spacious offices complemented by comfortable conference rooms and themed floors reinforced Google’s reputation as an incredible place to work.
We headed off to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and received a complete overview of how TASE functions, the problems and successes it has had in establishing itself as a modern economy and the state of the Israeli economy.
Next we visited my personal favorite destination thus far, a startup called Wibbitz. They transform text articles into summarized videos automatically, theoretically revolutionizing the way we consume media. The culture and values that we had read about and studied in startups truly came to life in that small office.
The two entrepreneurs we spoke to were the spitting image of the StartUp Nation spirit of Israel; ten employees in a plain office worked toward a mutual goal simply because they believed in the idea, ($3 million venture capital dollars believed in them as well.)
At the end of the night we had a lovely reception where we spoke with Interdisciplinary Center students in the Zell Entrepreneurship program. All the students in the program pair up and create a startup during the program. Speaking with these brilliant students, we were able to see the inspiration, creativity and general entrepreneurial spirit in their eyes.
From small startups to multinationals and billion dollar companies, today’s first day of business touring is truly going to be hard to top tomorrow, but looking at the agenda, I don’t think we’ll ever be disappointed.
Ross, Olin Business School, Class of 2017, Chicago
