A delegation of 45 students and faculty from the Management in the digital age ,Real, Real Estate and Big-Data tracks of the MBA programs have returned from a study trip in New York, USA.
The delegation was led by Michal Olmert Nestein, Shirley Brodecki Porat, Lali David, Orna Cohen, Elad Madani, Michal Amir and Michal Gologorsky and was accompanied by Professor Niron Hashai, Head of the MBA Programs and Dean of the Arison School of Business.
The delegation met with leading businessmen and entrepreneurs for fascinating conversations and was exposed to the challenges and business dilemmas of leading companies and individuals.
The sessions were varied and included early stage startups, established and mature companies, venture capital funds, investment banks, hedge funds and to conclude, a practical and experiential workshop at Cornell Tech, aimed at practicing creative thinking.
Among other things, the delegation met with Erel Margalit, an Israeli entrepreneur, chairman and founder of the JVP venture capital fund, who said that our society needs brilliant people with big ideas, with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion of minority populations. In addition, he talked about how he is working to establish seven centers of growth, innovation and economy in northern and southern Israel, including food tech centers in Kiryat Shmona and the Upper Galilee, the Cyber Park in Be'er Sheva and the New Media District in Jerusalem.
The students visited the New Lab - a spectacular and well-designed entrepreneurship center in Brooklyn, which is at the forefront of the effort to make New York the world's leading startup ecosystem. New Lab houses more than 200 startups that develop groundbreaking ideas such as refrigerators for hydroponic growing of edible plants in the home kitchen, leather for footwear and upholstery produced from collagen in biofabrication processes (without using animals) and facilities that allow charging electric cars when the demand is low (and the electricity price is low) , and sell back electricity to the grid during the high demand hours (when the price is higher).
Dana Chermesh Reshef, founder and CEO of inCitu, spoke about the app she developed, which allows everyone to experience the future of their hometown through augmented reality to examine the potential effects of real estate projects on the urban space, and influence the decisions that shape the future City life.
Oded Brenner told us how the talent for storytelling accompanied him throughout his long career that began in his dream of becoming a writer, continued with his ability to tell stories using chocolate and his new incarnation in the Blue Stripes venture, which offers a range of products based on the lesser known parts of the cocoa bean.
Alex Mashinski, CEO and co-founder of the blockchain company Celsius, shared with the delegation the story of his entrepreneurship and revealed the common denominator between Voice over IP and Blockchain.
Laurent Moreli, President of Kushner reviewed the changes in the US real estate market against the background of rising interest rates, inflation and the fear of a recession.
It has certainly been a rare opportunity to gain another and fascinating perspective on doing global business.
