December 5, 2023 • 11 mins
Hillsborough County Commissioners are expected to renew a grant program targeting technology companies in Israel that want to open U-S operations. The $100,000 would support the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator. We speak with FIBA's co executive director Rakefet Bachur Phillips.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. At Wednesday's meeting, Hillsboro County Commissioners
are set to vote on and likelyapprove a grant agreement with the Tampa Jewish
Community Center and Federation to set upa business program to encourage technology and other
innovative companies from Israel to set upUS operations in and around Tampa. That
(00:21):
project is the Florida Israel Business Accelerator, and the co executive director of that
project is Rakefet Bahor Phillips, andshe joins us now on Beyond the News.
Welcome, Thank you for having me. What kind of companies would this
project be targeting? So this programactually started back in twenty seventeen. We
(00:48):
had a first program early in twentyseventeen where we brought ten companies, ten
Israeli tech companies to Tampa for thefirst time or an acceleration program. We've
since have worked with around eighty Israelicompanies and our plan is to continue this
(01:14):
program this year and next thanks tothe support of the State of Florida and
also Hillsborough County. Now this onehundred thousand dollars grant have there been earlier
grants from Hillsborough County to set upthe accelerator program. And what does that
money go towards? How does itsupport this particular program? Sure? So
(01:38):
yes, the county has been verykind and gracious with our program and has
supported us since like I said twentyseventeen when we started the program with a
similar amount. And what we dowith the money we actually invested right back
(02:00):
in the county by using the UHservices of different service providers in the communities.
So, for example, we workwith a PR company that helps us
spread the word about what we doand help our companies UH spread the word
about their products and services. UH. That's one example. We also host
(02:23):
events in campus specifically, and wework with an event planner with an event
center and we use some of thefunds to to to fund these UH these
type of events. We also workwith advisors and specialists who can help us
(02:47):
provide the expertise that the Israeli entrepreneursneed in order to penetrate this new market.
And we also pay these experts fortheir help with their consulting. Now
do you find that the companies thatare the subjects of this particular project,
(03:12):
when they do, they have anawareness of I'm sure they have an awareness
of Florida, but do they havean awareness of Tampa or Hillsboro County before
you reach out to them, andwhat are their impressions as far as Tampa
as a place to base their USoperations. When we started our program back
in twenty seventeen, it was abit of a challenge to convince Israeli startup
(03:38):
companies tech companies to come to Florida. They've seen Florida as more of a
tourism destination right, a place wherethey will come maybe with our families for
vacation, and they have not quiteconsidered it as a place for business or
specifically for tech. A lot ofit has changed since covid uh where Florida
(04:03):
now is perceived as a great placefor businesses. And we're getting actually a
lot more interest from Israeli companies thateven before we reach out to them,
they reach out to us and say, we are considering Florida as a base
of operation for our US company orUS subsidiary, and we'd like your help
(04:28):
with kind of helping us settle settledown here and help us understand where is
a good spot for us. Soa lot has changed in the past few
years and the thing Florida is nowconsidered a tech hub, a good place
for business and even international companies,even specifically in early companies understand that this
(04:51):
is a great place to come tothe community is very open UH to UH,
to innovation and to new people.And this is also the feedback we've
received from companies and entrepreneurs who choseto come to Florida and specifically to Hillsborough
(05:13):
County and Tampa. We have severalof them that have decided to open their
offices here and have relocated their leadershipwith their families and are extremely happy to
be here. They find it asa very welcoming place, a very welcoming
community, and very happy to behere. And now they're kind of telling
(05:34):
their friends and we're seeing the communitydefinitely growing right here in Tampa, in
Tampa Bay. Now you're seeing obviouslythe company see benefit. How does the
county benefit from this ongoing program.Well, our probably main goal is to
bring jobs, high tech, highpaid jobs to the county and these companies
(06:00):
that we work with are all hightech companies. We work exclusively with tech
companies. These are usually fairly youngcompanies that have developed a new technology,
they have developed the product, it'sready for market products, and now they're
(06:20):
looking to penetrate the US market asa new market for them. And they're
coming here and are using our servicesfor the Israel Business Accelerator services to help
them understand the market, understand howto market and sell in this market,
and also find the right people tohelp them to do it. So our
(06:43):
goal is to really help these companiessettle down here and hire their initial team
here. They're usually looking for accountspecialists or sales people or business development people,
sometimes specifically tech support UH. Andyou know, all these people that
(07:05):
these companies are hiring are are workingfor high tech companies. They're very skilled
jobs and high paid jobs. SoI think the main benefit is bringing these
tech companies here that are hiring hereand bringing new jobs to the area.
Of course, there's also great synergywith other accelerators UH and the universities and
(07:33):
UH tech companies in the area,so great knowledge exchange, knowledge sharing,
and UH bringing kind of new ideasUH from overseas to our area. And
there's also companies. There are alsocompanies that have decided to assemble their product
here or manufacture they're product here withone example of a company that is selling
(08:00):
to the US military and because ofthat, they have to make their product
right here in the US. Ithas to be made in the US.
So there's also other benefits in termsof more industrial work, whether assembly of
products or manufacturing of products. Speakingof military matters, of course, we're
(08:24):
speaking now in the wake of thehorrific events in that part of the world
and there is now a war goingon, and back at their home offices,
I'm sure that they're dealing with manyissues, including possibly having some of
their employees called up as reservists.How does the situation now with the war
(08:46):
going on between Israel and Amas factorinto what these companies are facing and the
decisions they make, including what theymight look at as far as their operations
in the US. So you arecorrect, current situation is harsh, and
what we're seeing is some of ourcompanies are dealing with team members that have
(09:09):
been drafted UH to to serve inin the military and take part of this
operation. But all these companies areabsolutely dedicated to their UH to their customers
and are making sure that there isno issue and no gap in the service
(09:31):
that they provide. So UH thesecompanies are now pivoting and adjusting UH to
UH this new situation, and ifit means to move some of the UH
task for operations that was in Israelto the US UH to where it's safe
(09:56):
and business as usual, then theydo that. We have not heard of
any real change or delay in business. The message is very clear. Israeli
tech and is rarely startups are readyfor business, are continuing business and are
doing all they can to to continueto provide excellent service and excellent solutions to
(10:18):
their customers around the world. Weare, of course trying to help by
actually driving more business to these companiesand more investment dollars actually UH. These
companies are obviously seeing a slow down, and we're trying to help by directing
(10:39):
investors and local businesses to actually rightnow show their support by doing business with
Israeli companies and investing in Israeli companiesto kind of take them through this hump
until we get to the other side. A lot going on, certainly,
Rocket Bahor Phillips, who is calledexecutive director of the Florida Israel Business Accelerator,
(11:03):
working to bring Israeli businesses US operationsto Tampa and Hillsborough County. Thank
you very much for joining us onbeyond the news. Thank you Corn
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. At Wednesday's meeting, Hillsboro County Commissioners
are set to vote on and likelyapprove a grant agreement with the Tampa Jewish
Community Center and Federation to set upa business program to encourage technology and other
innovative companies from Israel to set upUS operations in and around Tampa. That
(00:21):
project is the Florida Israel Business Accelerator, and the co executive director of that
project is Rakefet Bahor Phillips, andshe joins us now on Beyond the News.
Welcome, Thank you for having me. What kind of companies would this
project be targeting? So this programactually started back in twenty seventeen. We
(00:48):
had a first program early in twentyseventeen where we brought ten companies, ten
Israeli tech companies to Tampa for thefirst time or an acceleration program. We've
since have worked with around eighty Israelicompanies and our plan is to continue this
(01:14):
program this year and next thanks tothe support of the State of Florida and
also Hillsborough County. Now this onehundred thousand dollars grant have there been earlier
grants from Hillsborough County to set upthe accelerator program. And what does that
money go towards? How does itsupport this particular program? Sure? So
(01:38):
yes, the county has been verykind and gracious with our program and has
supported us since like I said twentyseventeen when we started the program with a
similar amount. And what we dowith the money we actually invested right back
(02:00):
in the county by using the UHservices of different service providers in the communities.
So, for example, we workwith a PR company that helps us
spread the word about what we doand help our companies UH spread the word
about their products and services. UH. That's one example. We also host
(02:23):
events in campus specifically, and wework with an event planner with an event
center and we use some of thefunds to to to fund these UH these
type of events. We also workwith advisors and specialists who can help us
(02:47):
provide the expertise that the Israeli entrepreneursneed in order to penetrate this new market.
And we also pay these experts fortheir help with their consulting. Now
do you find that the companies thatare the subjects of this particular project,
(03:12):
when they do, they have anawareness of I'm sure they have an awareness
of Florida, but do they havean awareness of Tampa or Hillsboro County before
you reach out to them, andwhat are their impressions as far as Tampa
as a place to base their USoperations. When we started our program back
in twenty seventeen, it was abit of a challenge to convince Israeli startup
(03:38):
companies tech companies to come to Florida. They've seen Florida as more of a
tourism destination right, a place wherethey will come maybe with our families for
vacation, and they have not quiteconsidered it as a place for business or
specifically for tech. A lot ofit has changed since covid uh where Florida
(04:03):
now is perceived as a great placefor businesses. And we're getting actually a
lot more interest from Israeli companies thateven before we reach out to them,
they reach out to us and say, we are considering Florida as a base
of operation for our US company orUS subsidiary, and we'd like your help
(04:28):
with kind of helping us settle settledown here and help us understand where is
a good spot for us. Soa lot has changed in the past few
years and the thing Florida is nowconsidered a tech hub, a good place
for business and even international companies,even specifically in early companies understand that this
(04:51):
is a great place to come tothe community is very open UH to UH,
to innovation and to new people.And this is also the feedback we've
received from companies and entrepreneurs who choseto come to Florida and specifically to Hillsborough
(05:13):
County and Tampa. We have severalof them that have decided to open their
offices here and have relocated their leadershipwith their families and are extremely happy to
be here. They find it asa very welcoming place, a very welcoming
community, and very happy to behere. And now they're kind of telling
(05:34):
their friends and we're seeing the communitydefinitely growing right here in Tampa, in
Tampa Bay. Now you're seeing obviouslythe company see benefit. How does the
county benefit from this ongoing program.Well, our probably main goal is to
bring jobs, high tech, highpaid jobs to the county and these companies
(06:00):
that we work with are all hightech companies. We work exclusively with tech
companies. These are usually fairly youngcompanies that have developed a new technology,
they have developed the product, it'sready for market products, and now they're
(06:20):
looking to penetrate the US market asa new market for them. And they're
coming here and are using our servicesfor the Israel Business Accelerator services to help
them understand the market, understand howto market and sell in this market,
and also find the right people tohelp them to do it. So our
(06:43):
goal is to really help these companiessettle down here and hire their initial team
here. They're usually looking for accountspecialists or sales people or business development people,
sometimes specifically tech support UH. Andyou know, all these people that
(07:05):
these companies are hiring are are workingfor high tech companies. They're very skilled
jobs and high paid jobs. SoI think the main benefit is bringing these
tech companies here that are hiring hereand bringing new jobs to the area.
Of course, there's also great synergywith other accelerators UH and the universities and
(07:33):
UH tech companies in the area,so great knowledge exchange, knowledge sharing,
and UH bringing kind of new ideasUH from overseas to our area. And
there's also companies. There are alsocompanies that have decided to assemble their product
here or manufacture they're product here withone example of a company that is selling
(08:00):
to the US military and because ofthat, they have to make their product
right here in the US. Ithas to be made in the US.
So there's also other benefits in termsof more industrial work, whether assembly of
products or manufacturing of products. Speakingof military matters, of course, we're
(08:24):
speaking now in the wake of thehorrific events in that part of the world
and there is now a war goingon, and back at their home offices,
I'm sure that they're dealing with manyissues, including possibly having some of
their employees called up as reservists.How does the situation now with the war
(08:46):
going on between Israel and Amas factorinto what these companies are facing and the
decisions they make, including what theymight look at as far as their operations
in the US. So you arecorrect, current situation is harsh, and
what we're seeing is some of ourcompanies are dealing with team members that have
(09:09):
been drafted UH to to serve inin the military and take part of this
operation. But all these companies areabsolutely dedicated to their UH to their customers
and are making sure that there isno issue and no gap in the service
(09:31):
that they provide. So UH thesecompanies are now pivoting and adjusting UH to
UH this new situation, and ifit means to move some of the UH
task for operations that was in Israelto the US UH to where it's safe
(09:56):
and business as usual, then theydo that. We have not heard of
any real change or delay in business. The message is very clear. Israeli
tech and is rarely startups are readyfor business, are continuing business and are
doing all they can to to continueto provide excellent service and excellent solutions to
(10:18):
their customers around the world. Weare, of course trying to help by
actually driving more business to these companiesand more investment dollars actually UH. These
companies are obviously seeing a slow down, and we're trying to help by directing
(10:39):
investors and local businesses to actually rightnow show their support by doing business with
Israeli companies and investing in Israeli companiesto kind of take them through this hump
until we get to the other side. A lot going on, certainly,
Rocket Bahor Phillips, who is calledexecutive director of the Florida Israel Business Accelerator,
(11:03):
working to bring Israeli businesses US operationsto Tampa and Hillsborough County. Thank
you very much for joining us onbeyond the news. Thank you Corn
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