EVE-Femtech Hub & Arab women initiative

Israeli-Arab women's status in the Israeli workforce is influenced by two main factors: 1. their affiliation with a traditional patriarchal society, that encumbers on them to work outside their home and 2. their belonging to the Arab minority within Israel, who gets fewer employment-opportunities offered to it by the Israeli market. It is even harder for highly-educated Arab women, who are trying to overcome higher barriers, and secure senior positions in advanced and competitive industries. 

Our program will educate, promote and empower academic Arab-women, to become Femtech-entrepreneurs. As Femtech is the only technological sector where women have an advantage over men, our women-participants will get the confidence they need to become technological entrepreneurs, thus will drive change in their status in the Israeli workforce. 

Once showing Proof-of-concept in Israel, our program will be implemented in other countries in the middle-east and will change the lives of many Arab women.

Arab women in Israel suffer from double discrimination: they are women and they belong to a national minority. Despite, or maybe due to, these situational particularities, there's a trend of engaging in entrepreneurial activities among the Israeli-Arab women, to overcome their “home-work conflict”. These activities offer higher incomes, flexibility in working hours, and the option to integrate home and career requirements. However, most of the women are focusing on "small business", and only a small percentage become technological entrepreneurs that lead hi-tech/biotech startups. The reason isn't poor capabilities or a low level of education, as the percentage of educated Arab women is ever-increasing, rather the fact that they are still straggling to achieve jobs and senior positions in advanced and competitive industries.

Per statistics. Israel has the largest number of startups per capita in the world (~1 startup per 1,400 people). The number of startups that are led by Israeli-Arab founders is relatively small (~180), compared to the ~9,000 startups whose founders are Jewish (only 2%). The percentage of startups led by Jewish women is estimated to be 8%, but when looking for technological startups founded and led by Arab women, the numbers are dropping drastically, barely reaching 0.4%.

EVE-Femtech Hub is promoting the Femtech sector in Israel and training a new generation of Femtechers. It is now launching a three-stage program aimed at training qualified (academic) Arab women to become technological entrepreneurs:

1.  A pre-acceleration program that combines entrepreneurship education and acquisition of entrepreneurial and technical skills, with individual mentoring and coaching. Such coaching seeks to change the participant's (Arab women) perspective about economic life, overcome the fear of failure, develop resilience, and encourage risk-taking, the autonomy of action, and self-efficacy.   2. An “internship program” that provides the participants with “hands-on experience”, either in existing Femtech startups, that are part of  EVE's network, or as a participant in one of the unique collaboration programs that EVE is launching with the Innovation units of several Medical-centers around Israel. The program is adjusted to the Arab sector to help realizing the potential existing in this sector for Femtech-related innovations (untapped currently). 

3. Integrating academic Arab women in the Israeli Femtech ecosystem. By establishing a community of relevant Arab women interested in joining existing Femtech startups, we will be able to match them with opportunities within our ecosystem of Femtech startups.

EVE’s Impact

• One of our major goals is to empower women to manage their health more accurately and efficiently using innovative technologies. By promoting the Israeli Femtech ecosystem, EVE is enabling more Femtech startups to realize their ideas, thus more innovative technologies for women’s health will come to the world.
• Exposing Arab women to the Femtech sector, and to advanced ideas related to the way they can manage their health, will significantly increase the level of accessibility of these modern technologies to Arab women, hence improving the health of the entire sector.
• Establishing an acceleration hub that will enable more women to become technological entrepreneurs, will trigger Arab women to ideate Femtech products unique to the Arab sector. These ideas can originate only by Arab women, and will obviously positively impact Arab women’s healthcare, both in Israel and the Arab world in general.
• Exposure of Arab women to the startup nation scene - the entrepreneurs, accelerators, mentors, and investors - as part of their educational program, will create new opportunities for Arab women. As they gain confidence and become part of the network, they will spread the trend and impact the entire Arab sector’s integration into the modern technological scene.  

Israeli-Arab women are a minority suffering from double-discrimination: gender & nationality. This prevents them with access to the entire range of jobs in the Israeli-market. EVE’s program will train them to become technological entrepreneurs & amalgamate them to the Femtech sector, predicted to become the next big disruptor in the global healthcare market. Femtech, which uses digital-technologies to enhance women’s health, favors women, hence is perfectly fit for women wishing to enter the entrepreneurial-world, establish new startup, or integrate into an existing one. EVE will be their entry-point, rendering them with the needed skills, experience, connections/networks, and access to investors.

Existing solutions (mainly NFP-associations and governmental-entities) focus on encouraging Arab women to integrate into the existing labor market, thus directing them to job opportunities in their vicinity (limited) while preserving their traditional role in the workforce ("feminine", low-income professions).

We provide a platform empowering Arab women to seek new types of employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. Our solution focuses on Femtech, a market-field that addresses the health needs of women only, encompassing products and services which use innovative technologies like Telemedicine, Mobile Apps, etc. Femtech startups are rising due to "women-centric-unmet-needs" and are often led by women. Our platform will connect the Arab women to ideas and ventures that exist in the thriving ecosystem of the “startup nation”.

Furthermore, currently, there are no Israeli Femtech-startups that were founded or led by Arab entrepreneurs. Meaning, that the Arab sector is an untapped-source for new Femtech-related innovations, tackling women’s health from a perspective not yet seen in Israel: new ideas that are specifically-suited to the Arab sector and/or existing ideas that need to be adjusted to suit Arab women.

Our solution offers a holistic approach: focusing on a field (Femtech) in which women have a natural advantage in, connecting them to the innovation ecosystem that by its nature is most open to change, and partnering with key players in the existing market space like “Peres Center for Peace and Innovation”, Jasmin association, the Hybrid accelerator in Nazareth. We believe this holistic approach will synergize the creation of unique opportunities for Israeli Arab women.

Our solution is a business that connects the Arab women to a strong technological field – Femtech –perfectly suited to empower women.

The Femtech field which addresses the unmet need of women, is a place where Arab women can relate to (on a personal level), contribute (in the form of unique ideas), participate in (through our internship program) and even lead (as entrepreneurs and managers).

The Femtech field in Israel is thriving with solutions that use innovative technologies like Telemedicine, AI, IoT, Mobile Apps, etc offer products and services addressing women-centric unmet needs. Through its hub and acceleration programs, Eve has become a focal point for many such technologies, and a center of knowhow to this field in Israel.

Through this, our solution will connect Arab women to a plethora of cutting edge technologies.

EVE is the perfect framework to transform the traditional role of Arab women into being “Femtechers”. It is the first hub in the world that launched a unique program aimed to promote women’s health and Femtech startups. We have gained wide experience, significant connections, and are considered world-wide as leaders in the field. EVE is led by two professionals, each savvy in her/his own field, that complement each other and together bring a vast amount of experience, connections, and creativity. 

Our solution is new, hence currently not serving people. Our first-year operational plan will directly serve around 100 Israeli Arab women through our pre-acceleration and internship programs. In addition, our integration program will impact dozens of additional women in finding new job opportunities in the Israeli Femtech ecosystem. We believe that our solution will expand to serve thousands of Arab women within 5 years; our operations in Israel will expand across the country, and cross borders to neighboring Arab countries. 

Coming goals for 1st year:

• Grow to impact the lives of hundreds of Israeli Arab families by connecting them to The Israeli Femtech sector creating new job opportunities, increased income and better life quality.
• Engagement: creating an ecosystem connecting the Arab community to the Israeli startup nation, connecting accelerators, startups and entrepreneurs.
• Infrastructure: establish our operations in the Arab community
• Content: create program materials, complete 4-5 internship programs, connect at least 20 qualified candidates to startups, establish the Arab women community.

Goals for 5 years

• Grow to impact the lives of thousands of Israeli Arab families by scaling our operations across the country
• Expand and replicate our solution in neighboring Arab countries impacting thousands of Arab women and their families
• Replicate our solution in Femtech communities in Europe that will outreach to minority women in their countries

1st year barriers:

Financial barriers – funding. The proposed solution requires setting up and managing operational activities that include, amongst others: setting up operational center located in one of the Arab cities such as Jaffa or Nazareth, hiring community manager, marketing activities, meetups etc.

Cultural barriers – multiple barriers exist including

• Entrepreneurial culture is not prominent
• Many Arab women seek job opportunities in their immediate vicinity and are less inclined to work outside their geographical area
• Femtech issues such as menstruation, menopause, sexual health, pelvic issues etc., are still considered taboo

5 year barriers in addition to the 1st year

• Financial - Securing the needed financials to scale up the operations to the entire country and to neighboring countries
• Locating suitable partners in neighboring countries

Financial: securing grants from international impact funds, government support, sponsorship from companies operating in women’s health.

Cultural:

• Partnerships with organizations such as Jasmin, Peres center for peace that are routinely working in and with the Arab sector.
• Exposing the Femtech field to the Arab community through meetups, events
• Recruiting successful Arab women entrepreneurs as Eve ambassadors to give speeches and meet with the community

At the moment, we have one person full time, one person part-time, and about 20 mentors/consultants that work upon demand. We are out-sourcing contractors for accounting services, legal services, and social media/digital marketing.

Before the lockdown (due to Covid-19) we had premises of our own, with administrative staff and cleaning included, currently, we decided to save this money.

We believe that Femtech can empower Arab women, giving them the confidence they need to become technological entrepreneurs and driving change in their status in the Israeli workforce.

EVE Femtech-Hub is the perfect framework to transform the traditional role of Arab women into being “Femtechers”. It is the first hub in the world that launched a unique program aimed to promote women’s health and Femtech startups. We have gained wide experience, significant connections, and are considered world-wide as leaders in the field. EVE is led by two professionals, each savvy in her/his own field, that complement each other and together bring a vast amount of experience, connections, and creativity.

Dr. Sharon Rashi-Elkeles, Founder & CEO: Sharon is a health-tech professional, combining a strong scientific background with business skills and a drive to promote innovation. A skilled operational executive, self-driven, determined and goal-oriented, with a high degree of integrity. Fast learning capabilities and excellent interpersonal skills. She founded and led several health-tech companies; Pioneered the 1st Femtech accelerator in the world; raised funding; Generated collaborations with pharma companies, business and legal corporates, medical centers and innovation hubs; Accelerated innovations in the medical field; Led multidisciplinary scientific projects with subsequent publications

Tal Catran, co-Founder & Program Director: Tal spent many years in the local entrepreneur scene, exploring & learning about entrepreneurship, marketing, business development and mostly about the people that excel in delivering them. Over time, Tal became a Guru on building accelerators, hubs, start-ups & entire Ecosystems, motivating and inspiring entrepreneurs. 

EVE - Femtech Hub is currently working with the following entities:

• Ferring Pharmaceutical, Switzerland: a private multinational biopharmaceutical company specialising in areas such as reproductive health and maternal health, developing treatments for mothers and babies for over 50 years.
• Artemis Biosciences, Singapore: the first sizeable women healthcare fund in the world, managed by a team of veteran investment professionals, medical specialists and industry leaders in the healthcare sector.
• HealthIL, Women of Wearables: community partners.
• Assuta Ashdod Medical Center: mentoring new ventures.
• Peres Center for peace & innovation, Jasmine association, Hybrid accelerator: advanced discussion regarding the Arab initiative – involvement as leading partners of art of the programs.  

Eve has been graced with sponsorship from Ferring Pharmaceuticals, which funded its activities for the last 18 months.

EVE and Artemis Fund are collaborating to examine investment opportunities in startups that are included in EVE’s portfolio.

EVE was founded as an innovations hub aimed at promoting the Femtech sector. It began its operations in 2019, and within its first year of operation, it has become the central hub for Femtech in Israel. By now, we have shown proof of concept, gained wide experience, significant connections, and today we are considered worldwide as leaders in the field. It was only when we finalized mapping the Femtech-related startups in the Israeli ecosystem that we realized that there weren't any Arab startups on our list. That was the trigger that activated our Arab-women initiative, which we believe to be exciting, unique, and visionary. Yet, there are several challenges standing in our way to achieving it. Mainly financial, but not only. We think that there are cultural barriers we will need to tackle, gender issues, and lack of familiarity with other minorities throughout the world that might benefit from our model.

We see in SOLVE a platform that can help us with everything: financial support, to help us execute the program, helping in sharpening our offer to potential strategic partners and stakeholders including Human right associations, Medical associations, Governments, Philanthropic entities, Pharma & Medical-device companies in the field of women health, Social networks and more. Also, we would love to be exposed to as many international organizations). wish to support Israel and the Arab minority and b). wish to duplicate our program to other countries with either Arab women or other minority that is suffering from double discrimination. 

1. Partner with innovation units of medical centers and HMOs, to create a pipeline of new ideas that originate in these centers and need help to mature into startups.

2. Partner with Pharma companies, Medical device companies and digital health companies that seek for new ideas to invest in or to assimilate in their product lines, and have them fund our organizational needs

3. Partner with VCs that wish to invest in women entrepreneurs and in Femtech startups to become our "investment partner"

4.  Partner with relevant associations to brainstorm for new ideas in women’s health

5. Partner with Governments wishing to assimilate our program in their countries (similar situation of women suffering from double discrimination)

6. Partner with NGOs in other countries in the middle east that wish to replicate our model and maybe become “a chain”

We would love to partner with:

1. Big Pharma companies (Merck, J&J, etc. )

2. Insurance companies

3. VCs

4. Women's health medical associations

5. Women rights associations

6. Associations and organizations related to Arab women in developing countries

All of these entities can help in financing EVE, help to sponsor new initiatives led by women entrepreneurs that are part of EVE's program, enlarge EVE's network, build connections to the women entrepreneurs who are starting their new chapter in life with a new and challenging role, define and ideate new solutions to needs that are specifically fit to Arab women, or women from any other minority/ developed community. 

Ways to partner: Financial support, mentorship for our entrepreneurs, connections to corporates wishing to deploy new ideas, global network, scientific support etc.

Seven decades have passed since Simone de Beauvoir wrote about the need for equality and feminism, and women in the healthcare industry are still under-represented. “About 65%

of healthcare employees are women, but they make up only 33% of senior executives and 13% of CEOs”. Due to such huge disproportions and the dominance of men, decision-makers, procedures, devices and treatment, have so far been dominated by a “neutral” approach, that is, by a standard approach aimed at men.  Because FemTech is a small part of the entire digital health and technology industry and the term is not yet widely used, it is difficult for women to get started in it. EVE is the first hub in the world that launched a unique program aimed to promote women’s health and Femtech startups.  Indeed, many movements and organizations, such as FemTech Collective, Women of Wearables or Women Empowering Women are working for positive changes in the status of women in technology, but EVE is the only one that wishes to accelerate women's health by assimilating women from minorities to this thriving sector called Femtech.   We wish to give women power using the advantage of being the source where the problems begin and the place where the answers are!!! 
With the money that we will be granted, we will be able to educate, empower, support, and connect these women to technological entrepreneurship, and help them to establish companies and obtaining funding for their projects.

Using the GM prize, EVE will launch an entrepreneurship program to train qualified Arab women seeking to join the Femtech ecosystem. The program will be based upon Femtech-related technologies that stem from the Arab sector and its content will be adjusted to the sector needs. Together with Jasmin, a leading Israeli Non-for-Profit Organization dedicated to promoting social and economic change for businesses owned by Jewish and Arab women from all sectors, and the "Peres center for Peace and Innovations", EVE will generate traction in the Arab sector to raise awareness of the program.

Arab women entrepreneurs will be integrated into the Israeli Femtech ecosystem, after graduating an “internship program” that will provide them with “hands-on experience” in existing Femtech startups. EVE will work to integrate each participant in an existing startup that is part of its wide ecosystem network, or as a participant in one of the unique collaboration programs it is launching with innovation units in Medical centers around Israel. 

We believe that by establishing a community of relevant Arab women interested in joining existing Femtech startups, we'll be able to match them with opportunities within our ecosystem of Femtech startups. Community members will be invited to all EVE events, workshops and meetups. Also we'll create a designated forum for investment and technology speed-dating and matchmaking. EVE will leverage government (like the Israeli Innovation Authority) incentives designated to support, amongst other groups, women and Arabs-Led Startups to create a bridge between the entrepreneurial scenes in Tel-Aviv and Nazareth.