Supportive Community-Women Business Development

About me:

Supportive Community – Women’s Business Development Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping every Israeli woman who wishes to improve her economic and social status through establishing and operating a micro-business. Supportive Community was established in 2003 by 4 women, and today, over 3,000 have joined and received assistance from our community, out of which 1,600 have participated in long-term programs. While most existing organizations are geared toward serving small and medium business owners, establishing a micro-business, that falls into neither categories, is often the only way for women with limited job prospects to achieve economic independence and mobilize themselves socially and personally. For women who recently immigrated or come from less advantaged backgrounds, owning and operating a business opens the door to fuller integration into the Israeli mainstream. Many women, however, lack business experience and management training, they have great difficulty obtaining credit, suffer from low self-esteem and are fearful of marketing challenges. This is where Supportive Community comes in. Offering its services to women from many of Israel’s diverse backgrounds – immigrants from the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia, native Israeli Arabs and Jews, ultra-Orthodox women and others, Supportive Community has developed working models adapted to meet the specific requirements of women from each of these multi-cultural groups. These models enable them to obtain the vital knowledge; personal skills and management tools they need to set up and develop their micro-businesses. The resulting social and economic empowerment literally changes their lives, and the benefits of their newfound competence and confidence extend also to their families and their communities. In 5 years Supportive Community have assisted approximately 1500 women fulfill their dream and become economically self sufficient through micro business development; 10 business and social empowerment programs have been successfully completed; 5 Cooperation groups; more than 50 training programs and workshops; a Multicultural Model was developed with the goal of training women from different ethnic and economic backgrounds to become self-sufficient. We came across thousands of wonderful women’s stories; acquired highly professional staff and volunteers; created and joined various coalitions benefitting women and working towards a more tolerant society in Israel. to learn more about us please visit out website www.svivatomehet.org.il we would love for you to join us!