Beit Shemesh and Mateh Yehuda is bursting with entrepreneurs who are excited to try out their new ideas and to improve the region and make it an exciting place to visit and to live.

Following the two conferences organized by Partnership 2000 Beit Shemesh - Mateh Yehuda - Washington - South Africa of the Jewish Agency in  the framework of the Israel 15 Vision  (www.praxisshemesh.wordpress.com) on the subjects of "Women Advancing Peace between Communities- All Women's Activities" and "The Balanced Life - Eco-Sport and Balanced Consumerism" 16 proposals were submitted to the regional roundtable.

The women's ideas included: A regional art center, a program for German and Israeli women's dialogue, A regional chugim center on Srigim, a college for holistic medicine, a women's health center for body and soul, an Ethiopian women's festival, and a center for women's empowerment focusing on mothers and young families. An additional initiative that stands out is "Spotlight on Women' - a network of women entrepreneurs in the performing arts.

This group of professionals is already presenting a pre Rosh Hashanah workshop on Sept 5th combining performing with inspiration for the holidays. This initiative comes under the "All women's activity" consortium that was presented by the partnership. What is exciting is that some of these women had no connection before the conference - coming from extremely different backgrounds and now are working together to advance the region.

In the area of Eco- Sport and Balanced Consumerism, 8 additional proposals were received including: A center for outdoor training, a ecological artist in residence program, a bike friendly map and internet initiative, a "green" route of environmental activities in Emek HaElla, a center for ecological health, an ecological center at Beer HaTIkva including an Ethiopian village, and Eco - Park which would include sculptures by local artists as well as sculptured and specially "designed" trees, and a cycling and health initiative called "healthy riding".

On September 5th the regional roundtable, composed of leaders from Partnership 2000, the city council, the regional council and local businesspeople will convene to discuss the ways in which they can help the entrepreneurs take their next steps to achieve their goals. Some examples of tools that will be offered are: helping the entrepreneurs prepare business plans, matching  them up with appropriate loan funds and partnering them with the local or national government initiatives. The roundtable is chaired by Mr. Raanan Dinur - formerly Director General of the Prime Minister's office.

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