“The Arab community has a significant role to play in the future of Israel’s high-tech industry”
I heard from techies about the programs that helped them enter Startup Nation.
For as long as Israel has nurtured its high-tech scene, there has been criticism on who gets to be members of its gang. Over the years, Startup Nation has been rewarded with great success, but oftentimes scrutinized for its too-white, too-male makeup. While there are government programs to tackle this, some of Israel’s social groups are sometimes sadly left behind: only 3% of the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community is involved in Israel’s high-tech sector, and among Arabs, that number is even lower. While making up 21% of the country’s population, only 0.2% of Israeli Arabs participate in its startup culture (that number rises to 2% when considering 'traditional high-tech').
It’s a trend that needs reversing, if not for the communities then the country as a whole. CTech spoke to three members of Israel’s Arab community who have taken part in programs such as Samana and A-Tech to help them achieve their goals. Today, Salma Eyadi is a QA Engineer at SolarEdge, Ahmed Alshafaee is a Full-Stack Developer at Cambium, and Saja Jbaly is a Marketing Specialist and Co-founder of Skillfish Marketing Agency.
Learn about their stories on the latest CTech story…
You are also invited to watch my interview from 2022 in Nazareth when I spoke with Johny Abdallah, VP of Software Engineering at Amdocs’ R&D Center, Rabea Zioud, Co-Founder and CEO at Hasoub, Amal Ayoub, CEO at Slate Therapeutics, and Hans Shakur, Entrepreneur, Executive Director, and Business Development Catalyst at Tsofen.