Final selection soon for Jordanian-Israeli ‘Young Entrepreneurs’
In the midst of National Entrepreneurship Week, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is in the final selection process for 10 “Young Entrepreneurs” who will be here April 7 – May 7 as part of a federal program to promote business development and better relations between the U.S., Jordan and Israel.
In September 2009, UW-Green Bay was selected to receive a two-year grant totaling $273,876 from the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Each year, 10 “Young Entrepreneurs” – five each from Israel and Jordan will come to the area for a month of workshops, site visits, job shadowing and cultural activities in the Green Bay area.
“The State Department and the U.S. embassies in each country have to approve the participants we have selected,” said Jay Harris, international projects coordinator. “The first group will be all women. Some already have academic and professional backgrounds related to business, while others have little business background but good entrepreneurial ideas. All of them have been able to explain how they can benefit from our training program.”
Among the businesses these young entrepreneurs are looking to develop are a health clinic in an impoverished area, an environmental education center for young people, a family magazine, and a graphic design studio.
While here the 10 “Young Entrepreneurs” will work with mentors who will provide customized training and insight on developing and launching entrepreneurial business ventures. Some of those mentors, and other business professionals in the Green Bay area, will have the opportunity to participate in a one-week training program in each country. A long-term goal is to create mutually beneficial, self-sustaining linkages among professional communities in the United States, Israel and Jordan.
Contributing to the training process will be Green Bay-area business professionals, faculty members from the UW-Green Bay Business Administration program, personnel from the University’s new Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and counselors from the Small Business Development Center. Also lending support to the Young Entrepreneurs initiative are the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network, and the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.
Program partners in Jordan include the American Chamber of Commerce in Amman and the King Abdullah Fund for Development. In Israel, the Israel-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry along with the Bengis Center for Entrepreneurship at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Co-sponsors also include the BIRD Foundation (Binational Industrial Research and Development) of the United States and Israel, and TRIDE (Tri-lateral Industrial Development), an alliance promoting investment, research and development bringing together U.S., Israeli and Jordanian interests.
Co-directors of the Young Entrepreneurs project at UW-Green Bay are Prof. Meir Russ, chair of the University’s Master’s in Management graduate program, and current holder of the school’s Frederick and Patricia Baer Professorship in Business; and Michael Marinetti, assistant dean of Professional Studies and Research. Project coordinator Harris has significant experience in the Mideast following four State Department educational initiatives in Jordan and previous travel in the region.
In creating this program, organizers asked applicants from Israel and Jordan whether they would have any problem cooperating with participants from another country in a politically volatile region. The universal answer was ‘no,’ Harris said. “In fact, all of them have voiced their appreciation of differences and diverse interests.” For these entrepreneurs, opportunities to learn from others and create a sustainable business are the motivations.
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