“We have helped hundreds of new small businesses open in Israel since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic,” says Dorit Simonovich Lahav Tsur, manager of the Natan Fund. “Instead of giving people fish, we are giving them fishing rods so they can support themselves.”
The Natan Fund was founded in 2008 by South African Zionist and philanthropist Natie Kirsh to help encourage entrepreneurship for people unable to get regular bank loans. Kirsh made his fortune with the American warehouse chain Jetro Cash and Carry and has a fortune worth some $5 billion. The fund, which is wholly financed by Kirsh, has lent out NIS 110 million in the past 13 years to help some 1,300 businesses get off the ground, Lahav Tsur says.
“We give interest-free loans to people who are ‘unbankable’ people who can’t get a loan – whether because their bank credit is limited, or they have an existing home or car loan that prevents them from getting another one,” Lahav Tsur says. “We require that people are qualified and have experience in their field. So, for example, a person who wants to open a garage must have proper certification and experience as a mechanic. We support anyone who is an Israeli citizen, including haredim [ultra-Orthodox], Arabs and Bedouin, and we have lent money to people of all ages, from 20 to 75. A lot of our businesses are in periphery towns around Israel, and 45% of them are in the north of the country.”
The pandemic led many people to make changes in their lives, Lahav Tsur notes. “We lent money to 126 new businesses in 2020, and we hope to do 150 in 2021,” she says. She smiles as she starts to give examples of some of the people she has helped.
“There was an Arab man who we helped open a dental practice in Ramle, after working for local clinics for years. We helped an Arab woman open a pharmacy in her village up north, Nahf. Many women in the Arab sector work as pharmacists, and we helped her go out on her own.”
“In the haredi community, a lot of women are opening businesses, especially selling wigs and clothing. We had another woman in Bnei Brak who opened a big shop selling games and school supplies.
“We have a few haredi businesses that are thinking out of the box, including a man in Beitar who is trying to market a vending machine for shoes. He just launched a pilot with two machines, and he hopes to build a big business. Another man in Beit Shemesh opened a matzah factory with 40 employees that exports to New York, and sells his stock all year ahead of the Passover holiday.”
There are many other first-time business owners: the natural ice cream store in Sde Nehemia in the north; the El Al pilot who founded a rock-climbing center in Kibbutz Afikim; the woman in Kibbutz Nitzanei Oz, who developed a system for weaning toddlers off diapers; a Druze woman who opened a daycare center in her town in the north; and many more. “I feel very lucky to be able to help so many people and make a big difference in their life,” Lahav Tsur says.
“The fund is run as a gemach [literally a Hebrew acronym meaning acts of lovingkindness], and the founder always makes sure we have the money we need,” Lahav Tsur says. “We have a default rate of about 11%, which is very good for a fund like this, and whatever money is lost is made up by the founder.
The application process is easy and friendly, Lahav Tsur says. “An applicant fills out an application on our website, nksf.org.il, and sends a business plan and bank details. We go through it, and if it meets all the requirements, we invite them in for an interview. We require one or two guarantors, depending on the amount we loan. For loans up to NIS 100,000, we expect repayment in three years, and for up to NIS 240,000, we give up to five years. There is no one else in Israel giving loans like this,” Lahav Tsur says. “We are helping people change their lives.”