By Gloria Averbuch
Israel is notoriously plagued by widespread caretaker abuse of children in daycare centers. It’s a horrific problem that has shocked the country through chilling video evidence and devastating parent testimony. It has also spurred thousands of angry Israelis to take to the streets in demonstrations to call for action.
But now, with the compassionate concern and talent of a group of AMIT students, there is an app to help alleviate the problem. And it’s all thanks to the first AMIT Sharks competition.
AMIT Sharks Creation
The advent of AMIT Sharks coalesced in a meeting in July 2020 between Galia Kedmi Fragman, head of entrepreneurship at AMIT and co-founder of the Entrepreneurship Academy and Incubation; Yaakov Michlin, highly successful entrepreneur and start-up expert, CEO of BioLight and former CEO of Brainsway, and an AMIT alum and proud AMIT parent; and Nechami Holander, the AMIT regional manager of Ecosystem Partnerships. At that meeting, the three discussed their vision to expose AMIT students throughout the network to the world of entrepreneurship through a unique app development competition. It is modeled on the primetime Israeli television show, “Ha’creshim” (The Sharks), a version of the American entrepreneurial themed reality show, “Shark Tank.”
The first virtual competition included mentorship of the students by leaders in various professions and workshops that focused on the necessary skills to compete, such as how to pitch an idea, how to create a compelling presentation, how to build a business plan and much more.
Says Kedmi Fragman, “We turned the COVID-19 pandemic into an opportunity to reimagine and redesign our curriculum. AMIT Sharks was envisioned with three concepts in mind: entrepreneurship and the will to create is in our human DNA; the lockdown and constraints encourage innovation fostering; and location is no longer a barrier. All of our students can participate, experience the world of entrepreneurship, and work with our ecosystem partners and mentors, regardless of their background and geographical location.”
The idea was immediately popular, as it is fun and exciting, and kept students occupied in something uniquely hands-on during COVID isolation restrictions. Registration included 92 teams, four students per team, for a total of 368 participants. They were comprised of about half boys and girls, from 8th grade up and from 20-plus schools. About 50 percent of the teams were from schools in the periphery.
Benefitting From Top Mentorship
About 50 notable mentors and industry leaders assisted the students through remote meetings. They were comprised of four main groups of expertise: innovation, funding and fundraising, product management and engineering, and the art of storytelling and presentation building.
The first stage of the competition narrowed the teams down to 35, with which the mentors worked directly for two weeks. The competition was again whittled down to 10 finalists who received even more focused mentor guidance, including specific feedback and tutoring in honing presentation skills.
A panel of five distinguished Israelis was assembled to judge the finalists. They are well-known in various fields, from entrepreneurs, inventors and businesspeople to the first Israeli Olympic medalist.
And the Winner Is…
Israel’s Minister of Science and Technology, Yizhar Shai, officially opened the final competition with brief remarks and wished everyone good luck.
Each finalist judge was tasked with giving a ranking from 1-10 for every individual pitch with their consideration including the “wow effect,” as Yaakov Michlin calls it. The competition was very close between first and second place, and in fact, the second-place team’s pitch was also so successful that it has an offer to be purchased from a major company.
The winner was an app called ToddlerProtector, created by an 8th grade girls’ team from AMIT in response to the child abuse problem. It works by using various sensors to send alerts to parents when it detects physical or emotional distress in a child by using measures such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels and more. By sending notifications to parents in real time, the parents can track when the readings occur, if they repeat, and their rate of repetition. (The app is useful as well for parents in the event they forget children in their cars, another unfortunate problem.)
The ToddlerProtector team’s final marks were high, with one dynamic presenter receiving all five 10s from the judges. Also included for the winning team was a 10,000 shekel cash prize.
“The problem which was identified is a valid one, and there is a big market for it,” says Kedmi Fragman of the winner, emphasizing the potential importance of the app. “The team’s solution is innovative and simple to implement,” she adds.
The Future
AMIT staff is working to continue the development journey for the students and their apps. The top three teams will continue to work with start-up experts. The winning group is currently meeting with Israel’s leader of investors. The second-place team is in talks with a major company to be included in their platform, while the third-place team is meeting with commuter train services to explore potential projects relevant to their app.
Kedmi Fragman has a strategic plan for scaling, she says. But she envisions the Sharks as one of the steps in the process. In addition to the schools and students, “we promote a holistic approach in which the various ecosystem players take an active part in our programs. This includes the parent community, commercial firms, start-ups and others.”
AMIT, the Future of the “Start-Up Nation”
In the meantime, as of this writing, Michlin is attempting to get the winning team on the next season of the Israeli “The Sharks” television program. His enthusiasm for the young creators of ToddlerProtector is compelling. “In my 15 years in this business, I’ve seen a lot of start-ups. This group gave an amazing pitch. There’s a real market for what they created.”
“It was a tremendous opportunity for students to get more real-life experience,” concludes Kedmi Fragman of the AMIT Sharks debut. “Israel, as the ‘Start-up Nation,’ is a global leader, and we need to continue to claim innovative and technological positions. Therefore, we need to foster entrepreneurial behavior and spirit with our students early in life. It is especially important for our many students from the geographical periphery, as we need to expose them to the many opportunities that could be available to them and to drive social mobility. We want to get as many students as possible on board. Exposure, experience and empowerment make all of our students start dreaming. We help them dare to dream big.”
