Tag: Israel

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.

During winter break, 12 Olin students (11 MBAs and one undergraduate) spent a week in Israel as part of the Venture Consulting course. While there, they worked in teams in partnership with students from the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Israel.

Each team worked with an Israeli startup company on a specific consulting project. After the week in country, the teams continued to work together remotely to complete the consulting project which was then presented to the startup.

If you’d like to see a short montage of one team’s experience throughout the project, check out this video:

My excitement about the Israel trip continues to grow with every passing day. When I came to tour WashU as a high school senior I was told about the Business in Israel course and was immediately intrigued.

After speaking with Dean Malter during that trip I was determined to take the class during my freshman year. I can’t believe that, one year later, I am actually enrolled and preparing for our trip this spring break.

It is slightly intimidating to be one of the few non-Jewish students in the class. Many of my peers have traveled to Israel before and have a wealth of knowledge about Israeli history and politics. My position is very exciting in that I am starting from ground zero. I started the semester with absolutely no knowledge about Israel and every single class I leave knowing so much more than I did before. My classmates have been incredibly helpful in explaining certain colloquialisms as well as political history.

I am rapidly consuming Start-Up Nation and obnoxiously recommending it to anyone who will listen to me. I can’t believe I had no idea how powerful and innovative Israel is. I need to start researching the companies we will be visiting during our trip!

Chandler
Olin Business School, Class of 2017
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN

The Business, Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Israel course at Olin Business School provides WUSTL undergraduates an opportunity to understand the interconnectedness between culture, politics and business, and how all three produce a unique and successful business environment in Israel. Students travel to Israel during spring break to learn first-hand about the Israeli business culture. Students in this course are asked to reflect about their in-class takeaways, as well as throughout their immersion trip to Israel.

We are one month away from our departure date.

The trip is starting to become more of a reality with every passing class as itineraries and visits are becoming more concrete. We students are becoming more excited.

This week we finished reading Start-Up Nation, written by Dan Senor and Saul Singer, and Thursday’s class was taken up mostly in discussion about major themes in the book. The main aspect of our conversation that I found most intriguing was our examination of why entrepreneurs in Israel are able to create and innovate in so many disciplines to the extreme degree that they do.

In the book, Singer and Senor highlight the uniqueness of the Israeli army. Some of this distinctiveness can be characterized by the fact that service is mandatory for all citizens (with some exceptions for the Hasidic communities), and also the hyper-competitiveness and prestige that some of the elite units truly hold.  But also, the Israeli army fuels the fire for creativity and innovation. It allows for a certain lifelong connectedness between talented groups. The army instigates an intense unifying community among Israelis that helps foster creativity and innovation.

Israel is truly a country made up of innovators. With areas similar to Silicon Valley, California in Hertzilya and Tel Aviv, tight-knit communities of creativity help to fuel perfection and advancement. I know I’m particularly excited to check out Israeli start-up industries when in Israel to get a feel for this culture that we read about in Start-Up Nation.

Adam
Arts & Sciences, Class of 2014
hometown: Sharon, MA

The Business, Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Israel course at Olin Business School provides WUSTL undergraduates an opportunity to understand the interconnectedness between culture, politics and business, and how all three produce a unique and successful business environment in Israel. Students travel to Israel during spring break to learn first-hand about the Israeli business culture. Students in this course are asked to reflect about their in-class takeaways, as well as throughout their immersion trip to Israel.

My excitement about the Israel trip continues to grow with every passing day. When I came to tour Wash U as a high school senior I was told about the Business in Israel course and was immediately intrigued. After speaking with Dean Malter during that trip I was determined to take the class during my freshman year. I can’t believe that, one year later, I am actually enrolled and preparing for our trip this spring break.

It is slightly intimidating to be one of the few non-Jewish students in the class. Many of my peers have traveled to Israel before and have a wealth of knowledge about Israeli history and politics. My position is very exciting in that I am starting from ground zero. I started the semester with absolutely no knowledge about Israel and every single class I leave knowing so much more than I did before.

My classmates have been incredibly helpful in explaining certain colloquialisms as well as political history.  I am rapidly consuming Start-Up Nation and obnoxiously recommending it to anyone who will listen to me. I can’t believe I had no idea how powerful and innovative Israel is. I need to start researching the companies we will be visiting during our trip!

Chandler
Olin Business School, Class of 2017
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN

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The Business, Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Israel course at Olin Business School provides WUSTL undergraduates an opportunity to understand the interconnectedness between culture, politics and business, and how all three produce a unique and successful business environment in Israel. Students travel to Israel during spring break to learn first-hand about the Israeli business culture. Students in this course are asked to reflect about their in-class takeaways, as well as throughout their immersion trip to Israel.