185 Breton entrepreneurs from Rennes, Saturday, travel until Wednesday in Israel. The start-up nation opens their arms to them, presenting themselves as an eldorado where to invest and establish themselves.
"When we hear about Israel, it is often for wars and conflicts. We are here to talk economy, "smiles Bruno Cressard, vice-president of the union of companies of Ille-et-Vilaine.
Part of Rennes, 185 Breton bosses landed in Israel, Saturday, October 13. Discovering a young nation of only 20,000 km2, which celebrated its seventy years last spring. "The youngest economy in the Middle East was built by pioneers. There is a culture of risk here, "continues Bruno Cressard.
Risk culture
A culture of risk, an economic dynamism that intrigues and impresses Breton entrepreneurs. With 8.5 million inhabitants, Israel has about 7,000 start-ups in which 3 billion euros were invested in 2015 ... against 10,000 start-ups in France (1.8 billion investment in 2015).
The country also shines with 11 unicorns (Taboola, IronSource, Outbrain ...), these start-ups valued at over a billion dollars, when France can claim only three (OVH, BlaBlaCar and vente-privée.com) .
"Our raw material is the gray matter"
"Israel is not bad at all," says Dan Catarivas, director of the international service Manufacturer's Association of Israel (the Israeli Medef). Moses having decided to settle in the only country in the Middle East where there is no oil, he continues with a smile, our raw material is the gray matter. "
Coworking spaces grow everywhere. Research centers, in which Israel invests more than 4% of its GDP, too. The success of Waze, a road traffic application, founded by an Israeli researcher in 2008 and bought back $ 1.1 billion by Google in 2013, or Mobileye (anti-collision system for autonomous cars) bought by Intel for $ 15 billion dollars last year, turn the country's head, where the median age is 30 years. "Here everyone wants to be his boss. This idea of young people who start their business and resell it abroad is the current model in Israel, " says the representative of the country's employers.
Young Israelis are challenging each other, trying to multiply these "Exit": the number of buyouts of start-ups has exploded by 110% in 2017.
Favorable climate ... and psychological obstacles
"There is an exceptional climate of innovation, with state support that contributes to business risk , " said François Petit, head of the economic department of the French Embassy in Israel. "A very strong business culture, which goes straight to the point, adds Florent Delavalle, his deputy, a Nantais. It is a market not to be neglected. Between 100,000 and 150,000 French people live in Israel. 6,000 French SMEs are exporting here in the field of traditional business. "
But in the field of innovation, the French "remain much less visible than Americans, Germans, Japanese ..." In question? "Psychological barriers, especially around security issues, remain strong. "
"Flowing economy"
And yet, "we are indeed in a fluid economy , " recognizes one of the participants of the Breton delegation, Maurice Bourrigaud, general manager of the People's Bank in the West. He is on his third visit to Israel. It does not forget "a certain impoverishment in progress" , with a two-speed economy, split between high-tech (8% of GDP) and the rest. Like the other Breton bosses, he is however pleasantly surprised by the quiet and very consuming life that rustles in Tel Aviv, with its air of Barcelona, its bars and restaurants, its joggers on the beach front ...
"Israel is today a very stable state, with a pendulum swing to the right, but no worse than in Poland or Hungary. Better not to judge here. There is no more complex situation in the world. "
"This is the place dreamed"
Julia Neustadt, country manager at Yves Rocher, tries to communicate his enthusiasm to the Breton bosses. The Breton cosmetics company moved to Israel three years ago. "There is a stable currency, a very young population, with a great appetite for cosmetics. This is the place dreamed. "
Even very positive speech by Franck Meloull, former advisor to Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and now president of i24News, whose studios are based in Jaffa. This international news channel, "born of a dream of Patrick Drahi" , the tycoon of media and telecoms, displays an editorial line "anti-anxiety" uninhibited and assumed. "We do not want to see the Middle East as a problem, but as a solution. "
Left to be accused of propaganda? "If we were a propaganda channel, we would have been broadcast first in Israel ... but this is the last country where it was broadcast ( I24News was only authorized at the end of May 2018 by the Israeli Parliament to be broadcast on the entire Israeli territory, Editor's note). "
"Come here, there is no limit"
So ? "It's a state that works like a business," says Julien Chainay, a lawyer from Rennes, a partner with Efficia. They are much more agile. There is no fear of failure ... " But the Rennes entrepreneur still finds a discrepancy: " While one wonders in France how to produce less, they wonder how to produce more. "
The Israelis multiply in any case the calls of the foot to the Breton bosses. Amiram Appelbaum, scientific manager at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, says "to be very impressed" by the unprecedented size of the delegation. And open your arms wide: "Come. Here, there is no limit. "