Why SA entrepreneurs stand to gain from closer ties with Israel

When my recruitment business failed after three years, I returned to the corporate world carrying more than disappointment. I felt ashamed. I had invested my hopes and identity in that business, yet had nobody with whom I could unpack what had happened. It took years to heal. I thought about that experience deeply during my recent visit to Israel through MASHAV, the agency for international development cooperation. 

I had certainly expected to learn about innovation on the trip, but what I experienced was a new way of thinking about entrepreneurship that completely changed how I understood my own setback. 

MASHAV was established in 1957 to share Israel’s knowledge and technologies with developing nations. Its emphasis on building human capabilities and supporting sustainable development became evident, almost immediately, through the people I met on the programme. 

Their lessons made a compelling case for closer relationships between South Africans and Israelis, relationships that connect knowledge with opportunity and allow both societies to build a greater prosperity together. 

As a South African woman and social impact practitioner working with women and young people in the Eastern Cape, I see enormous creativity and determination. Many participants, however, have had little exposure to entrepreneurs, investors, or business networks. Some have never encountered a successful entrepreneur whose background resembles their own. 

My experience in Johannesburg had been different. Industry experience, networking opportunities, and entrepreneurial energy surrounded me. The contrast taught me how much geography can shape access to opportunity. Israel helped me understand how deliberately we need to build the relationships that make that opportunity usable. 

One MASHAV facilitator, entrepreneur Jamie Amsel, offered an instruction that stayed with me, “Make learning your strategy.” 

Listening to him, I began to reconsider my business experience. A failed enterprise didn’t make me a failed person. For the women and young people I work with, that distinction matters. We must develop the confidence and resilience of the entrepreneur alongside the practical capabilities of the enterprise. 

I encountered entrepreneurs in Israel who had built companies, experienced setbacks, and started again. Their willingness to experiment seemed connected to the support around them. Mentors, academics, investors, and fellow entrepreneurs appeared to form a network that could respond as their needs changed. 

Shared workspaces illustrated this. Their value went beyond affordable desks. Working beside other entrepreneurs created opportunities for introductions, informal mentoring, and solving problems together. Sometimes the person who can help you take the next step just needs to be within your reach. Yes, capital remains essential. But money achieves more when entrepreneurs also have access to skills, customers, guidance, and people who can help them recover when something goes wrong. 

One encounter has already prompted me to act. Through Noa Rifkin, I learned about Check Point’s SecureAcademy, which provides free cybersecurity learning resources through partnerships with educational institutions and non-profit organisations. The model connects specialist expertise with organisations that understand the communities they serve. Since returning, I have spoken to Rifkin about exploring a partnership to bring these skills to South African women and young people. That conversation is still exploratory, but it demonstrates how an international exchange can become the starting point for practical cooperation that truly benefits those who didn’t have access to these resources before. 

I believe that such partnerships work best when knowledge travels in both directions. Israeli expertise can help expand access to technical skills, while South African organisations contribute local understanding, community relationships, and insight into the challenges those skills must address. Together, we can develop approaches that are more relevant and useful than either partner could create alone. 

Another facilitator, Sharon Gesthalter, emphasised shared humanity and authentic relationships. Her reflections reinforced something essential to my work: people experience an organisation through the way it treats them. Trust grows when we recognise one another’s aspirations and remain present through difficulty and setbacks. 

I learned that our entrepreneurship programmes in South Africa need to offer sustained mentorship, visible role models, and spaces where participants can test ideas. Support should continue beyond graduation, connecting people to markets, expertise, and networks as their businesses develop. Young people should be able to choose entrepreneurship as a credible career, with a pathway that makes that ambition truly realistic. 

South Africans already understand the power of rallying around one another. We sometimes call it “country duty”. What I saw in Israel challenged me to imagine that generosity as an everyday part of economic life: people and institutions taking continuing responsibility for helping others build. 

I returned home wanting to adapt these lessons to our own communities. Closer relationships between South Africans and Israelis can give that work momentum, opening doors to shared learning, stronger enterprises, and new opportunities. Prosperity grows when people can contribute their strengths and gain from one another’s experience. 

The women and young people I work with deserve those connections. My experience of MASHAV convinced me that we have much to gain by building them. 

• Luyanda Henna is a South African social impact practitioner and entrepreneur focused on expanding economic opportunities for women and young people, particularly in underserved communities in the Eastern Cape.