President Isaac Herzog today hosted an event at the President’s Residence honoring the Jewish Federations of North America’s Israel Small Business Loan Fund. Since the war began, the fund has helped thousands of Israeli businesses stay open, keep their employees and rebuild.

Jewish Federations set up the loan fund in the first months after October 7 as part of its Israel Emergency Campaign, which eventually raised more than $900 million.

The fund gives small businesses access to credit on far better terms than they could get from banks while the war disrupted their cash flow. Small businesses make up more than 90% of registered companies in Israel. They produce about 35% of the country’s GDP and employ roughly one-third of its workforce.

Over the past two and a half years, the fund has raised around $92 million in philanthropic capital. The fund’s central pool of capital has been leveraged to unlock bank funding of about four times its size. Together, this has made possible more than $240 million in loans to 4,132 businesses, supporting an estimated 28,000 jobs.

Repaid loans are lent out again, so each donated dollar keeps working. About 257 million shekels (around $80 million) from repayments has already been re-lent, with no new donations needed. Less than 0.5% of the capital lent is more than a year overdue.

About 48% of loans have gone to businesses in the North, the Gaza border communities and the northern Negev, the areas hit hardest by the fighting. Loans have also supported businesses whose owners or employees were called up for IDF reserve duty, and businesses in industries hit hard by the war, such as tourism and hospitality. Many borrowers faced several of these challenges at once.

President Isaac Herzog: “In the reality forced upon Israel since October 7th, many small and medium-sized businesses have faced tremendous obstacles, not because of poor business decisions or a lack of demand, but because of the harsh realities of war. Amid these circumstances, the Jewish Federations of North America’s Small Business Loan Fund has stood by Israel’s business owners. Through its work, it is sustaining economic activity, saving livelihoods,  trengthening communities, and opening a wider window of hope for hundreds of business owners across the country. The value of this support is many times greater than the sum of money it provides. It is an expression of mutual responsibility, shared commitment, and the common destiny of the Jewish people, and a vote of confidence in Israeli entrepreneurs, in the resilience of Israeli society, and, above all, in the future of the State of Israel.”

“When the war hit, North American Jewry didn’t ask what Israel needed in the abstract. We asked the shop owner in Kiryat Shmona, the reservist running a business from a base, and the family firm in the Gaza border communities what it would take to keep their doors open,” said Rebecca Caspi, Senior Vice President of the Jewish Federations of North America. “The answer was credit they could afford, and we made sure they got it. More than 4,000 businesses later, most are repaying their loans, and they know every shekel they repay goes on to help another small business. The borrowers have become part of the circle of giving themselves.”

Five professionally managed lending platforms run the fund. Each one serves a different part of Israel’s small business sector:
 

• Bizi provides fast, digital, short-term working-capital loans to small businesses near the northern and southern borders, reservist-owned businesses, and businesses hit by the war’s impact on revenue. Its lending is financed in partnership with Isracard and The Phoenix.”
• Daroma-Tzafona, run with The Jewish Agency for Israel, focuses on businesses with 5–29 employees in the southern and northern border regions.
• Koret Israel Economic Development Funds focuses on underserved communities, including Arab and Ethiopian-Israeli business owners.
• Ogen provides low-interest loans, as well as mentoring, to small businesses and reservist business owners underserved by standard financial institutions. 
• SparkIL connects lenders worldwide with small businesses in Israel’s periphery through loans.

Eyal Ben-Haim, Deputy CEO and Head of the Business Division at Isracard: “Small businesses are a key growth engine of the Israeli economy, and safeguarding their resilience is a national priority. Since October 7, Isracard has been working in partnership with the JFNA Fund, its donors, and partners in Israel to make a meaningful impact on thousands of businesses directly and hundreds of thousands of Israelis indirectly.

Providing credit to businesses in Israel’s north and south, as well as to reservists, offers them a financial safety net and helps them get back on their feet during this challenging period. We view supporting Israeli businesses as an integral part of our role as a leading financial institution, and we leverage our capabilities and tools to create genuine opportunities for their growth.

We will continue working to strengthen the resilience of businesses across Israel, help them navigate challenging times, and enable them to develop and grow as part of building a stronger Israeli economy.”

At the event, three borrowers spoke on a panel moderated by Miri Michaeli:
 

• Hadas Cohen runs Studio Dosa, a gold and gemstone jewelry business in Ramat Gan. When her husband and business partner was called up for reserve duty, she ran the business alone. The loan covered suppliers and cash flow, and the business is back on its feet.
• Atar Levy of Ginot Atar, a landscape design and development business, was evacuated along with the business’s employees and called up for reserve duty. After returning to work, Levi used the loan to buy a tractor, a trailer and professional tools.
• Shirin Khatib runs a language college in Shefa-‘Amr with five employees. She founded it in 2019 and survived COVID before the war stalled her plans to expand. A Koret loan in June 2024, with professional mentoring, helped her stabilize the business and grow.

In surveys conducted for the first time this year, borrowers on all five platforms reported a recovery. Among Bizi borrowers, 71% report higher revenue than the year before their loan, and 96% kept or added staff.

“We thank President Herzog for honoring these businesses today. When we set up this fund, we treated every donated dollar as an investment in Israel’s future, and we expected it to come back and work again,” said Sara Gottlieb, the chair of Jewish Federations’ Israel & Overseas Committee. “With bank leverage, our philanthropic capital has put more than $240 million into the hands of Israeli business owners. Less than half a percent is more than a year overdue, and about $80 million in repayments has already gone back out as new loans. Small businesses were a sound bet, and they are paying it back.”