This July Partnership 2000 of the Jewish Agency - Beit Shemesh - Mateh Yehuda - Washington - South Africa opened up a course together with MATI Kiryat Gat (the Small Business Development Center). 22 women signed up for this course from 10 different communities in Mateh Yehuda and  from varied communities in Beit Shemesh. These women are all small business entrepreneurs in the "wellness" or "holistic" fields. Their professions range from graphology to reflexology to childbirth preparation.

The course consists of 14 weekly half day meetings. The first half of the course will cover subjects such as developing a business idea, identifying resources, forming their relative advantage, creating a vision, creating an effective working plan, etc. The second part of the course will focus on practical business skills such as managing finances, marketing and sales skills and time management.

Following the 14 weeks the women will continue to meet once a month to create a regional forum of holistic therapists. They will develop goals and a vision for the forum, create a platform for cooperative marketing, a group working plan and will discuss the creation of new products and regional events in the field of wellness. Look out for great things coming out of this group!!

Due to popular demand, an additional course for holistic therapists will begin in September. There are still some spaces available. For information contact: Brenda Ganot, Tel. 02-6367809 or email: brendag@jafi.org