. ^ FROM AN ISRAELI HOUSEWIFE
BY RUTH SELIGMAN
COMING TO SETTLE in Israel lisn't something that's easily done [— especially if you're a business-[man of moderate means who has [made a good living abroad, but who is skeptical aibout moving [to Israel, transferring all your assets here, investing and starting anew when you don't know the conditions and markets, when you stand the risk of a failure which could wipe out the savings of a life-time. To give these entrepe-heurs the confidence and push to make the move, a new Israeli company has been formed, the brain-child of Sir Isaac Wolfson, industrialist and philanthropist. Called I.G.C. (InvestmentGuar-
lateral where the banks can't, and yet where minimum safety requirements must be met. I.G.C. guarantee fees generally run about half of those usually charged by commercial banks.
I.G.C. is not just a service organization, al^ough the services it provides are significant — both for the newcomer and for Israel. It's a business and a sound one at that as time has shown. In tiie first five months in which
banks, has already helped over 280 families — efficiently and economically — to solve perhaps the largest single problem of a new immigrant — that of a roof over his head. This is the human story behind the figures just quoted, impressive as they may be. This is the true worth and signi- . ficance of this phase of I.G.C.'s activities.
This is a company which is not only helping attract immigrants who otherwise might be wary of making the move to Israel without the security which the guarantee program offers; it is not only making it possible for increasing numbers of immigrants to take advantage of the government mortgage program for new immigrants, but it is also giving its backers, its sharieholders, an investment
_ Friday, August 27, 1971—THE BULLETIN—1]
mU iSWER mUZRACHI SETS BRUNCH Am FASHION SHOW
it provided guarantees for immigrant housing mortgage loans, in a growing and prosperous com-the Corporation guaranteed $2,- pany
000,000 worth of immigrant housing mortgage loans. Four months later, the figure had
antee Corporation), it does just reached $3,500,000.
that — provides new immigrant investors with a guarantee against loss of their investment from normal commercial risks. If a company fails, if with all the best will in the world the new investment in Israel doesn't succeed, the investor receives back a sum of up to 75 percent of his investment or $100,000 ~ whichever is lower. The annual fee for this service is small: the peace of mind, the encouragement it provides, cannot be measured.
I.G.C. also guarantees loans from third parties to hew immigrants, both for business purposes and also for housing. These again are services which help the immigrant and ease his entrance into tiie society.
Sir Isaac first prc^osed the idea of an investment guarantee corporation at the 1968 Jerusalem Economic Conference — colloquially called the 'Millionaire's Conference.' At the time he made this prapoaal only a few pei^le appreciated the depth of his vision, the acumen with which he viewed both the problems of the economy and the difficulties of attracting investors to it. Very few realized that in less than two years time the company would have a capital of two and a half million pounds and show a balance sheet total of over 10 million pounds.
NOWHERE ELSE in the world has a private company ever undertaken to cover investment risks. It was an idea which struck many people as so unique as to be either impractical or unprofitable or both. It has turned out to be neither. Leading economists in Israel feel that the scheme is worthy of study by the U.N. in terms of dealing with the problems of developing countries. Sir Isaac, himself, has announced that "as soon as there is peace in the Middle East- we shall be glad to extend the company's activities to the Arab countries.*'
Initially based on the desire to help and encourage settlement in Israel by middle-class immigrant investors, the corporation does feasibility studies on the immigrant's project to determine its viability for the economy and its spbnisor's chances of si^ccess. Refusal to sell a guarantee is an indication that the venture is a dubious one. This is often as valuable a service to the immigrant investor as the guarantee itself. Potential investors are warned away from unsound projects.
In the field of providing guarantees to third parties, such as joint funds of Government and commercial banks, which advance medium term loans to new immigrants for business purposes, a very valuable function is being served. This may not sound as exciting a project as investment guarantee, but it covers a larger lield and fills a very special need. I.G.C. has been successful in handling the difficult cases, those where greater flexibility is required to find suitable coi-
AMBASSADOB TO TANZANIA
COPENHAGEN-Consul-general of Israeli Embassy in Denmark, hlomo Arnon, has been named ew Israeli Ambassador to Tanz-nia. His post will be taken over y Uri Bar-Ner.
ISRAEL IS a country where. mortgage banks require from borrowers three to six personal guarantors in addition to the mortgage. As a result, untold hardships are often placed on new immigrants who have neither family ^or friends to act as their guarantors. This low-cost mortgage loan guarantee program for new immigrants, worked out in coqieration with the ministries of finance and of immigrant absorption and with the mortgage
Its shareholders are both Israelis and Jewish businessmen from abroad. In this it represents the trend and thinking in Israel today which was set at the 1968 Economic Conference -- the partnership and, economic identification between Diaspora and Israel business interests on a profit-seeking basis.
TO BOTH its investors, in Israel and abroad, and to its clients, immigrants from all parts of the world. Investment Guarantee Corporation represents a unique combination of idealism and realism, of service based on sound business principles.
BIRS. I. TISCHLER
The Dvora Esther, chapter of, Mizrachi Hapoel Hamizrachi Women will hold a brunch and fashion show at the home of Mrs. A . Zucker, 1150 Wolfe, on Sept. 8 at 12 noon. Convener of the luncheon, open to the public, is Mrs. Wm. Schuster.
Mrs. Harry Quastel, a life-
long devotee of Mizrachi Women, will speak.
Fashions to be displayed at the luncheon are creations of the girls in the Mizrachi vocational school in Beersheba, Israel.
The following officers were recently chosen for the coming term: president, (^esdamesjil. Tischler; vice-president, M.W. Steinberg; secretary, G. Shaffer; treasurer, E. Epstein; program chairman, G. Aharon.
A project of special interest, officials note, is the organization's building and maintenance of the girl's vocational school in Bnai Brak, Israel. Here some 400girls, aged 13-17, from North Africa, India, Lebanon, Morocco and Yemen, receive a general high school education and courses in dressmaking, domestic science and secretarial work. Officials added that Mizrachi schools provide a religious environment for girls who wish to maintain their orthodox background.
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