- Israel is often called the “Startup Nation” due to the sheer number of entrepreneurs and tech companies in the country of 9 million people.
- Itzik Frid, a longtime Israeli tech entrepreneur and the CEO of a startup incubator focused on Arab-led startups, believes that the country will lose its edge if it can’t better integrate its Arab minority into the tech industry.
- While Arabs make up 21% of Israel’s population, they currently only make up about 3% of the tech workforce.
- Frid believes that bringing more Arabs into the tech workforce could alleviate the massive wage gap the population faces and improve the Israeli economy.
- This post is part of Business Insider’s ongoing series on Better Capitalism.
Israel produces an impressive number of highly successful tech companies for a country with just 9 million people, from social navigation app Waze, which sold to Google in 2013for $US1.15 billion, to autonomous driving company Mobileye, which sold to Intel last year for a whopping $US15.3 billion.
Israelis have long lovingly referred to the Middle Eastern country as the “Startup Nation,” thanks to the sheer number of entrepreneurs building businesses there, particularly in cities like Tel Aviv.
But some, like Itzik Frid, a longtime Israeli tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist, think the country will lose its edge if it can’t better integrate its minorities into the tech scene. Frid is the CEO of Takwin Labs, a venture capital firm and startup incubator focusing on Arab-led startups.
Read the full article by Harrison Jacobs at Business Insider Australia.