Conference for Entrepreneurs on Eco-Sports and Balanced Consumerism

 

50 entrepreneurs from all over Beit Shemesh and Mateh Yehuda participated in the conference. After an introduction by Gideon Vennor, director of the Partnership and  

Ra'anan Dinur, chairman of the regional roundtable and former Director General of the

Prime Minster's office, the group was split up into two focus groups; one focused on

"Eco-Sports" (any sport or workshop that can be done in nature) and the other focused on "Balance Consumerism" (any service or product contributing to a sustainable lifestyle).

 

In the 'Eco-Sports' group was a great variety of entrepreneurs representing:  running, cycling, yoga, tai chi, water therapy, dance therapy, massage, and other activities that one can do in nature. The idea is to build attractive tourism packages which will increase the amount of tourism to our region and thus help our local entrepreneurs. There are lots of initiatives already in our region, however the Partnership's goal is to  increase cooperation between them, to encourage new businesses to sprout up and to enable them all to succeed on a level they have not yet achieved.

 

In the 'Balanced Consumerism' group were a variety of people dedicated to turning Beit Shemesh and Mateh Yehuda into a region with a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. This includes offering packages and products to tourists who are looking for this type of experience. Some of the entrepreneurs included: the owners of a local olive press which produces olive oil and derivative products, a goat cheese farmer who runs cheese making workshops, an organic farmer, healthy catering, ecological gardening and more.

 

The businesspeople came together in order to suggest ideas for the advancement of the region and also to meet with others with similar businesses and network with them. Aside from networking, the ultimate goal of the conference is to set up consortiums or interest groups of entrepreneurs and encourage them to submit initiatives to the "regional roundtable" which will then help guide them to the success of their projects.  

 

The production of the conference came after a year and a half of developing the 'Israel 15 Vision'  - a process run an supported by Partnership 2000 as part of its Economic and Community Development committee. The founders of the vision are Machon Reut while Praxis has been leading the facilitation of this process. The vision is part of a national project to leapfrog Israel into the top 15 countries in the world in the next decade in terms of quality of life. Our region was chosen to pilot this initiative. The first conference of this kind was held last month in Beit Shemesh with 80 women entrepreneurs attending.

 

Summing up the conference, Raanan Dinur thanked the entrepreneurs for coming and encouraged them to submit proposals to the roundtable by mid-August.  

 

If you were not able to come to the conference but would like to suggest an initiative for the region and work in cooperation with other entrepreneurs please contact us for more information.

 

Brenda Ganot, brendag@jafi.org: 02-6367809

For a detailed list of ideas that were presented at the conference go to: