Israeli Female Entrepreneurs Rebuild Their Communities and Themselves

While the events of October 7 impacted all of Israel, it was felt acutely by the women of the Western Negev communities whose lives were upended. These women helped to manage this crisis by organizing centers to manage being displaced from homes, providing food and clothing as well as everything else that was needed.

Now these women are working to build on these leadership skills to create social change in the region, according to KUMI – which means rise – , a proram that helps women take the initiative to lead by creating a network of women from the municipalities Western Negev region.

The Need for KUMI
The KUMI initiative was founded by Eisman Lifschitz, a Jerusalem-based lawyer and mother of five who moved to Israel 27 years ago from Australia, reported the Times Of Israel. To date, over 300 women have joined.

After the Hamas invasion, Lifschitz noticed that while women were playing a major role to help rebuild their communities there were few avenues open to them. In fact, women are underrepresented at all levels in Israel including government, business, and public life.

Women comprise only 25 percent of Knesset members, 14 percent of ministers, and  only six percent of mayors across the country. The wage gap between women and men in Israel who are employed full time in Israel is a shocking 25.4 percent.

Lifschitz joined the Supersonas platform that connects successful women and helps to move them into leadership positions. She then set up an organization called She Rise to be able to receive donations – mostly from the US and Canada – for women and girls. This enabled her to create the KUMI initiative.

About KUMI
The free initiative is a six-month program that consists of 13 bi-weekly meetings and two conferences for groups of 30 women for each of the 11 locations in the region. All the women are either already active in their communities or want to become more involved.

During the course, the women learn about effective communication, networking, branding, fundraising, and how to think creatively. But besides learning practical entrepreneurship tools, KUMI works to build self confidence and provides seed money for the projects that the women want to pursue.

Nitzan, is one of the participants from a KUMI group from the Merhavim Regional Council that is east of Gaza told the Times of Israel that she works as an environmental innovator. She plans to create a special area in  moshav stores to promote local crafts, baked goods, and produce. This would provide income for moshav residents.

She said, “They’ll discover, for example, that the annoying girl knows how to make excellent cupcakes, or that the prison officer is a talented ceramicist.”

Two other women from the same moshav, Yasmin, Sigal, and Dana are working on a plan to open a youth-run community café on the moshav. The women said after the turmoil young people experienced after October 7; this would help them build resilience. As of now, the moshav is not in favor of the idea but being in KUMI has given the women the confidence to keep pushing.

Chen Shohami Hadad, who lives in the Gaza envelope, and manages KUMI, said in an interview with the Iota blog that the moment she saw the position, “I connected with the vision, potential, and enormous impact of the project. I felt that I simply had to take on this challenge and make the best of it.”

Her goal is to see KUMI grow, to spread to other regions around the country, and to positively influence life in Israel. She shared: “My dream is to see more and more female leaders emerge from Kumi, and to see how reality changing ventures start under our umbrella, contributing to real change and growing a new generation of female leaders.”