"The Beit Shemesh and Yehuda Plains area is bursting with small business initiatives and therefore it is the perfect time to offer a course for beginning entrepreneurs", says Brenda Ganot, P2K Coordinator of the course. "The response to our ads for the course was very positive and over 50 people applied to the course", adds Ganot.

Partnership 2000 is dedicated to helping new businesses develop and succeed in Beit Shemesh and Yehuda Plains. This year it is sponsoring a beginning entrepreneur's course which includes 24 participants from all over Beit Shemesh (two thirds) and Mateh Yehuda (one third). The participants come from various different fields and professions including: educators, artists, natural medicine practitioners, electricians, Internet marketers and more. The participants range in age from their twenties to late fifties, and there is an equal number of male and female participants.

  
The course is being facilitated by Ronni Givoni of Runtrend, a company that specializes in business consulting and development. The syllabus includes instruction from a number of different experts in their fields and will cover subjects such as marketing and sales, finance, public relations and human resources. Simone Edri, the head of the Office for Economic Development in the Beit Shemesh area has already met with the group to inform them of local assistance and loans which are available to new businesses. Nimi Yaffe and Shalomi Shaked will also address the group on the subject of tourist initiatives in the area.

  
In addition to hearing from the experts, articles and information are distributed and working groups are being set up among the students. During the first session each participant introduced themselves and spoke briefly about their background as well as their business idea. Based on these presentations, the class had an assignment to choose a working group. Each group has a CEO, Financial officer, Marketing director, Operations and Production managers. Together they will come up with a business plan and present it to the class. We are excited to see the results!

The course will run from November until the end of December, offering a total of 55 hours of instruction, culminating in a visit to local successful businesses.

Shai Teitelbaum, who lives on Moshav Kfar Uriah, currently manages a cement factory, but has dreams of starting his own art gallery. "I am seeing everything from a new perspective now that I'm taking the beginning entrepreneur's course run by Partnership 2000. I plan to apply the new skills that I am learning from the business experts to all areas of my business and my life."

Aharon Garfinkel, a former gym teacher who made Aliyah from the United States several years ago, has now re-trained as an electrician. He says "Being in this course not only is giving me the tools I need to start my business in an organized fashion, but it gives me a great feeling to be able to take the course with other Israelis, in Hebrew. It's good for my klita."

Naomi Tor, an experienced community social worker, specializes in running and planning social programs for non-profit organizations and local government. Due to budgetary changes within the welfare department, private organizations are taking over this role of creating social programs for the cities. Naomi wants to take the wide experience she's gained and start her own business, and is hoping that the course will fill in the gaps in her business knowledge. "I'm very grateful for the opportunity to learn how to think like a private business woman after so many years of working for public, non-profit organizations."

Judy Krasna is launching her own website called "Celebrate Israel", an Internet site full of free information for North Americans who are planning family simchas in Israel. Judy says: "I am excited about filling in the gaps in my knowledge - especially on the financial side of things, such as the Israeli tax laws and national insurance policy, and the course is providing me with this information and much more!"

Amram Tzabari is a nature photographer and lecturer. He says, "in these difficult economic times it is important to learn as many skills as possible in order to succeed in starting one's own business. So far I have learned many new skills, especially in the area of marketing, sales and positioning that will help me develop my business idea further".

All participants in the class have been divided up into working groups and together will come up with their own business idea and plan which they will present to the rest of the group. A prize will be awarded for the most well-planned group project. May the best group win!