Tag: ISBA

I have had a crash course in Middle East politics within the past five days, especially about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I had a very shallow understanding of the conflict coming into my study abroad but since the beginning of “Operation Protective Edge*,” I feel as if I’ve become an expert on the topic.

*Operation Protective Edge is an Israel Defense Forces operation in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, launched on July 8, 2014.

On our way back from the Dead Sea, our tour guide and Adam, the person in charge of us, told us that it was possible we would hear sirens indicating incoming rocket fire in Tel Aviv that night or the next morning. Some of us took the threat seriously and others thought the possibility of sirens was far fetched.

Sure enough not even an hour after we got back to Tel Aviv, the sirens went off. At first we weren’t sure if it was the siren or an ambulance. But after a few moments we realized it was the siren and headed to the staircase for shelter.

The Iron Dome is honestly the most fascinating piece of technology I’ve ever encountered. It intercepted those rockets over Tel Aviv and all the ones we’ve experienced since being in Israel. The fact that it can detect whether a rocket is going to hit a populated area and intercept the rocket all within a very short amount of time is both life-saving and incredible. Being in Israel during time of conflict has been both challenging and a learning opportunity. I feel as if I have a completely different view on the world and how lucky we are to live in a country where our borders aren’t threatened on a daily basis.

Sara Jackson is a sophomore at the Olin Business School and a member of the first class in Olin’s Israel Summer Business Academy.

Greetings from Yerucham, Israel! We are currently on a Shabbaton through Onward Israel, which is a weekend getaway with other student groups where we get to spend the Shabbat together in the middle of the Negev. This has definitely been a unique and worthwhile experience for my classmates and me.

As the city of Yerucham is 60% deserted land and 40% populated, we definitely feel like we have left the vibrant and busy streets of Tel-Aviv Yafo (even though it is only a short two-hour bus ride away). Onward Israel offered four experimental tracks for both Thursday and Friday; we chose tracks depending on what we thought would interest us most. Friday, I choose the track entitled “Women and the Periphery,” during which we met women from Yerucham who had very special stories to share with us.

One of the women that we met was from the Bedouin community. Bedouins are an Arab, desert-living people who typically live off very little income and resources. Despite their low economic status, they greet their visitors with immense hospitality, which we all felt as soon as we stepped inside the Bedouin tent. The tent was covered in bright color tapestries and flowery cushions for us to sit on. Our Bedouin host greeted us with a big smile and was already there preparing us tea (which happened to be delicious, if you were wondering).

After we were all situated and everybody got a cup of tea, she began to talk a little bit about herself and the Bedouin culture. She pointed out that she served the tea from the right to the left, and this was not an accidental gesture. In Bedouin culture—no matter the gender or status of the person—you always serve that way. It was very interesting to me how seriously this right-to-left-serving-culture was practiced, as it was something that I never take note of when my family serves guests at home. Our host told us that if somebody was served incorrectly according to Bedouin custom, that person can go complain to the Chief and get the host in serious trouble. This led us straight to the discussion of the unequal treatment of women in Bedouin communities, which has been an ongoing problem for these people for years.

Even though the Bedouin culture has been modernizing in recent times, women are still not viewed as equal to men and are stripped of many of their social rights. However, with the support of her husband, our host goes against some of the Bedouin societal norms. Traditionally, Bedouin women are not allowed to host men as guests unsupervised or go off to college to achieve a higher education—but our host has done just that. Hoping and fighting for the equal treatment of Bedouin females everywhere, she is an inspiration to all of us.

Stephanie Abadi is a sophomore at at the Olin Business School and a member of the first class in Olin’s Israel Summer Business Academy.

Today was the first day that we were able to sleep in since we arrived in Israel. So, it is safe to say that I was more than satisfied when I woke up well rested at 10:30am for class.  However, due to the shortened lecture for that day we were not busing over to IDC for school. Instead, Professor Holekamp held an optional lecture on marketing, which took place at the beach.  We all met at the Leonardo Basel Hotel at 11:00am, and walked across the street together for class. We found a nice shady spot under a beach canopy, and Prof. Holekamp began his discussion.

The marketing tool he taught us involved a 6-step rating process that would determine the difficulty a company would have in convincing someone to use their product, which would normally require the consumer to step out of their comfort zone and try something new. The example we discussed was the Better Place electric cars, a company that while filled with promise, went bankrupt shortly after its debut in the Israeli Market.  While the company’s vision of replacing gas-powered cars seemed virtuous and promising, they had a lot of difficulty convincing consumers to switch away from traditional automobiles.

A conclusion we drew was that although most, if not all people are in favor of helping the environment, a surprisingly low percentage of those people will actually spend money and step out of their comfort zone to purchase environmentally friendly products.  The lecture was very interesting and thought-provoking, and having class with the Mediterranean Sea in the background made it even better. Professor Holekamp is only spending the week with us in Tel Aviv, but he has made a very lasting impact on our learning and the program as a whole.

Danny Goldsmith is a sophomore at the University of Missouri-Columbia and a member of the first class in Olin’s Israel Summer Business Academy.

On our second day of classes at the Israel Summer Business Academy (ISBA), we were off to Google Israel, located right in the heart of Tel Aviv. Class was held in “Campus TLV”, a portion of the Google office dedicated to entrepreneurs who come to work on their ideas within the confines of a very creative space. We, too, got our creativity flowing as we worked in teams to talk about what we believe has made Israel the innovative nation it is today, and what our definitions of an entrepreneur and innovation are.

After class, we were taken on a tour of the Google offices. From the oranges to the arcade, and even the workout area, I was so impressed with all of the different floor themes. I also loved the signs posted on all of the doors with various health and nutrition facts. It was fascinating listening to Yossi Matias, the head of Research and Development for Google Israel. To learn that the Israelis are responsible for the suggestions that pop up every time I make a Google search and that the World Cup scores are being updated in their office was very cool. I am so happy we had the opportunity to visit there!

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing work and relaxing under the sun. A group of us  had a nice dinner just down the road and topped it off with some delicious Italian style gelato. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s discussion of Israel’s venture capitalist firms and can’t wait to try the highly praised chocolate at Max Brenner.

Carly Bloom is a sophomore at Olin Business School and a member of the first class in Olin’s Israel Summer Business Academy.

The inaugural Israel Summer Business Academy kicked off with a walking tour of Tel Aviv on Saturday, June 14th.  This was my first time to meet many of the ISBA students and their first time to meet each other.  We have 25 students representing six universities in the United States, Turkey and France in this first cohort.

The day consisted of a tour to help students get an understanding of the city and its beginnings from nothing but sand dunes. We traced the steps of the founders of the city and learned about the city’s history on a beautiful summer day.  The tour ended in Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv with a group meal of traditional Israeli salads, falafel and shwarma.  That night we had group dinner at a beach side restaurant as the group continued to get acquainted.

Over the next six weeks, we’ll be posting news, views, and insights from ISBA students on the Olin Blog. Check back often to see where this new academic adventure takes us!

Steve Malter
Associate Dean and Director of Olin Undergraduate Programs

ABOUT ISBA

The Israel Summer Business Academy (ISBA), is a six week immersive program open to college students from all over the world that provides students the opportunity to learn firsthand about Israeli entrepreneurship, innovation and business. The courses allow students to conduct an in-depth exploration of the Israeli business culture and why Israel has earned the name “Start-Up Nation.”

Participants will leverage their classroom know through experiential learning and will work with Israeli start-ups to provide them with potential solutions to a strategic problem. Students will also have the opportunity to create their own start-up in a team comprised of ISBA participants and Israeli students. ISBA is sponsored by the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel.

The ISBA program is modeled after courses developed in collaboration with Olin and IDC faculty that have enabled more than 100 Olin students to engage in immersion learning in Israel over the last six years.