Metro
New Jobs?
WSU's TechTown partners with Michigan Israel Business Bridge
to create economic opportunities.
Mexico," said Nancy Cappola, TechTown's
International Soft Landings Director
Nancy Cappola. "We help companies cre-
ate their business infrastructure in North
America, and work with Michigan com-
panies that want to export to the world."
Cappola's department oversees outreach,
advocacy and recruitment of interna-
tional companies looking for entry into
the U.S. market. In the words of Charlton,
Soft Landings is TechTown's "full-service
concierge program for international com-
panies."
Francine Wunder
Special to the Jewish News
C
ountering rumors that economic
opportunity in Michigan is con-
tinuing a downward spiral, a new
partnership has emerged between Wayne
State University's TechTown business incu-
bator and the Michigan Israel Business
Bridge (MIBB), a nonprofit organization
that supports entrepreneurism and corn-
merce between Michigan and Israel.
Ann Arbor-based MIBB and Detroit-
based TechTown recently co-hosted a
networking reception that attracted more
than 60 entrepreneurs and stakeholders
eager to learn about the economic oppor-
tunities emerging for both Detroit and
Israel as the result of a recent nine-day
mission to Israel by a WSU delegation.
The trip, coordinated in cooperation
with MIBB and the Jewish Community
Relations Council of Metro Detroit, includ-
ed meetings with WSU scientists, faculty
and administrators, TechTown representa-
tives and their counterparts in Israel.
MIBB Executive Director Ron Perry
spoke of the enormous potential a Detroit-
Israel partnership has to create new com-
panies and jobs, particularly in the areas
of bio-banking, homeland security and
stern cell research.
Noting that Israel "has attracted a ven-
ture capital community that is the envy of
the world"' said Randal Charlton, executive
director of TechTown. "Israel has turned
itself into an `innovation society' By build-
Jerrold Rubin, TechTown's International Soft Landings Program mentor; Amnon Pelz,
CEO, Taburit; Nancy Cappola, director, International Soft Landings Program; and
Robyn Lederman, secretary/board member of Michigan-Israel Business Bridge
ing a culture that values teamwork in lieu
of hierarchy, particularly within its uni-
versities, Israel has become a leader in the
business of science'
Charlton said that TechTown is poised
to follow Israel's example by helping to
facilitate Israeli tech transfer collabora-
tions with researchers from Wayne State
and its University Research Corridor
(URC) partners (the University of
Michigan and Michigan State University).
More significantly, TechTown — by virtue
of its International Soft Landings program
and location on the U.S.-Canada border
— can provide Israeli entrepreneurs
with desperately needed access to North
American markets and an infrastructure
from which to do business.
"When you come to Detroit's TechTown
you get Michigan, the U.S., Canada and
Israeli Opportunity
Israeli businessman Amnon Pelz quickly
booked a flight to Detroit after meet-
ing Charlton. Within two weeks of the
Wayne State visit, TechTown had helped
Pelz establish a U.S. mailing address and
arranged meetings with venture capital-
ists. Pelz is in the process of establishing
a U.S. subsidiary of his company, Taburit.
In addition to establishing a private cord
blood bank, Taburit adds the unique
overlay of an insurance product that
safeguards against the potential loss of
biologic property.
"This is an opportunity to bring into
the insurance world a new product and I
want to take it global;' Feltz told the audi-
ence at the networking event.
According to Charlton, stem cell
research is the next phase of science and
one of the most promising areas of oppor-
New Jobs? on page 16
TechTown And Hebrew Free Loan Help Entrepreneurs
T
echTown has formed a new
partnership with Hebrew Free
Loan (HFL), a private commu-
nity organization with a 115-year history
of providing interest-free loans to assist
Jewish individuals in need.
Bloomfield Township-based HFL has
pledged a starting pool of $300,000 to
begin issuing short-term loans to Jewish
entrepreneurs committed to remaining in
Southeast Michigan. As Detroit's largest
and fastest-growing small business incu-
bator, Wayne State University's TechTown
will be responsible for identifying loan
candidates who have viable business
ideas, have successfully completed a
TechTown FastTrac program or are cur-
rently enrolled in TechTown's two-year
SmartStart business accelerator program.
Candidates receiving an HFL loan also
will receive access to TechTown's compre-
hensive entrepreneurial support system,
which includes business coaching, men-
toring, workshops and space for lease.
Initially, loans will range between
$1,000 and $25,000.
"To truly help this community stabilize,
we knew we had to reach out and become
a part of something bigger than we are'
said HFL Executive Director Mary S.
Keane. "What is so important in start-
ing our partnership with TechTown is its
ability to deliver a package of resources
all in one place to anyone with an entre-
preneurial idea. TechTown offers us the
greatest leap we've ever taken in helping
our small business clients."
TechTown Executive Director Randal
Charlton says the collaboration with
HFL adds another critical dimension to
TechTown's ongoing efforts to develop a
new class of homegrown innovators and
leaders across Southeast Michigan.
"The support from the Hebrew Free
Loan comes at a critical time Charlton
said. "We are particularly interested in
offering young people who are seeking
to develop their careers a real alterna-
tive to leaving the state in search of their
future.
"By the end of 2009, more than 750
potential entrepreneurs will have com-
pleted our training programs that have
been funded by the foundations that
make up the New Economy Initiative for
Southeast Michigan. Many of these new
entrepreneurs will need seed funding to
establish their businesses. Hebrew Free
Loan will be one important source of that
financing." II
December 24 • 2009
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