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GMAC Smartlease 24 months, 1st pymt., ref. sec. dep. equal to 1st pymt. rounded to nearest $25 increment, new plates or transfer fee, administration fee due on delivery.
State & Lux. tax additional. Mileage limitation of 24,000 miles. 15o/mile excess charge over limitation. Lessee has option to purchase at lease end for pre determined
price. To get total pymt., multiply pymL by no. of months.
"Based on GMAC SMARTLEASE 24 month one single up-front payment plus $500 ref. sec. dep., plus plates, or transfer due on
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WASTE •%
DEALEft
INCWATED
tW_Lt.LENCE
AGAINST page 65
Israel's military demands have
forced the IDF into the techno-
logical frontier, Israeli Arabs, who
do not ordinarily enlist in the
army, have largely missed out on
this basic high-tech training.
Moreover, because many of Is-
rael's high-tech companies man-
ufacture defense-related products,
Arab Israelis shied away from
studying electrical engineering;
odds were — and largely remain
— they would not pass security
clearances.
And even while the high-tech
industry makes more headway
into the civilian sector and de-
mand for engineers increases the
opportunities available for Arabs,
the established network often fa-
vors people who have risen up
through the ranks. Many would-
be entrepreneurs meet in the
army and, once discharged, apply
the knowledge they have culled
there to develop civilian applica-
tions.
Despite the odds, Mr. Younis
says that when he made his deci-
sion to study electrical engineer-
ing at the Technion, he naively
underestimated the difficulties he
would face. In a class of about 300
students, Mr. Younis says 10 were
Arabs. And when it came time to
graduate in 1983, all 10 had diffi-
culty finding jobs in their field.
Some eventually moved abroad
for work.
"While the Jewish students got
jobs pretty easily, we had a hard
time because most of the compa-
nies were defense companies or
subcontractors for them," says Mr.
Younis, adding that the difficul-
ties he encountered did not make
him bitter, but caused him to
dream of starting his own busi-
ness.
"During our studies, [the Arab
students] always spoke about the
problem that Arab engineers can't
find jobs, and it was my dream to
establish a high-tech company so
that we wouldn't have to rely on
Israeli companies."
Mr. Younis, however, decided
to get some experience before
striking out on his own. After six
months of searching for a job, he
found work at the Technion's
medical school.
He participated in a number of
projects in the technical support
division, supplying solutions based
on scientists' and researchers'
needs. By the time he ended his
five-year tenure, Mr. Younis had
headed the unit for two years.
His next job was as a re-
searcher for Haifa-based Fidelity
Medical, where he worked on de-
veloping blood pressure and elec-
trocardiogram systems. In 1992,
after four years on the job, Mr.
Youths decided the time had
come. With the support of his wife
Reem, a construction engineer
who today also runs her own com-
pany, Mr. Younis was determined
to make the jump.
`The decision wasn't easy. I hes-
itated. I had a good salary and a
good job. But I needed to do it,"
says Mr. Younis. "All the indus-
try in the Arab sector is in ser-
vices. And I thought that if I didn't
do it, nobody would."
So with the willingness "to give
up a car and two meat meals a
week," Mr. Younis went into busi-
ness on his own with an initial in-
vestment of about $6,000. Using
the experience and connections
he had made through his previ-
ous jobs, he began developing ma-
chines that researchers use to test
how stimuli affect a monkey's
brain. Eventually, he also re-
ceived assistance from the
Herzliya-based Center for Jew-
ish-Arab Economic Development,
a non-profit organization that sup-
ports Arab business initiatives
and helps encourage business re-
lationships between Jews and
Arabs.
First Arab firm.
Sarah Kreimer, founder and co-
director of the center, found out
about Mr. Youths via a mutual
business acquaintance and was
immediately drawn to his "in-
tegrity and willingness to take a
major chance."
"He's the only Arab entrepre-
neur in the high-tech center.
That's the context. He was taking
an enormous leap and risk, and
we thought, 'If you're willing to
take a risk to follow a dream, we'll
help you,' " says Ms. Kreimer, who
assisted Mr. Younis in putting to-
gether a business plan and se-
curing a bank loan.
This help allowed Mr. Younis
to take on more people and build
his company to its current work-
force of 10 — nine Arabs and one
Russian. Jew — and sell his goods
to customers like Hadassah Hos-
pital, the Weizmann Institute,
Emory University, the Universi-
ty of California and Veterans Ad-
ministration hospitals.
Ms. Kreimer's center is helping
Mr. Younis to secure venture cap-
itaL Two undisclosed venture-cap-
ital funds, one Israeli and the
other Israeli/American, are eval-
uating Alpha Omega.
Although the strategic decision
to add two new systems to Alpha
Omega's product line slowed sales
growth last year, Mr. Younis ex-
pects sales in 1997 to total
$700,000. He is also looking for
a strategic partner to market
products, waiting to see what kind
of inroads a newly hired repre-
sentative in Germany will make
into the European market, and
considering future plans to de-
velop a commercial application
from his systems.
'We're progressing all the time.
Each year we have new frontiers,
and the numbers we are dealing
with are bigger," he says. 'Things
are happening more rapidly than
I expected." ❑
(c) Jerusalem Post 1997