Les Israéliens commémorent ce dimanche 17 mai 2015 la Journée de Jérusalem. Qu’il vente où qu’il neige, Erel Margalit, qui est le symbole selon nous du hightech leadership de Jérusalem, garde toujours le sourire.

Style Hollywood. C’est sa marque de fabrique. A Jérusalem tout le monde politique le connait. Il est richissime.

Erel Margalit a eu l’occasion de s’exprimer récemment devant 400 entrepreneurs suédois : “Par rapport à sa taille, Israël est un grand créateur de technologie. C’est merveilleux de voir que le monde s’intéresse à notre façon de faire. Lorsque je suis allé en Espagne, ils m’ont pratiquement ligoté pour m’empêcher de partir. Ils sont tout simplement étonnés par le succès d’Israël.”

Pendant la conférence, un manager de fonds suédois a demandé à Erel Margalit comment Israël avait réussi à attirer tant d’entreprises internationales à établir des centres de recherche et de développement en Israël – allant d’Intel à Google et à Apple. “Les entreprises américaines ont compris que les Israéliens aiment inventer”, a-t-il répondu. “Et ça c’est contagieux.”

La journaliste économique Nathalie Harel : "Erel Margalit a pour rêve de transformer Jérusalem en capitale mondiale du multimédia. Dans le milieu des affaires israélien, le patron du fonds Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Erel Margalit, ne fait pas l’unanimité. Certains critiquent la vision de ce « quadra » qui ambitionne de faire de Jérusalem une plate tournante dans l’univers de la création et des nouvelles technologies. D’autres lui reprochent ses diversifications dans l’univers du contenu et du multimédia.

Toujours selon Nathalie Harel : "Mais une chose est sûre : le fondateur de JVP qui s’est notamment illustré dans la vente de Chromatis à Lucent pour 5 milliards de dollars et vient de lancer son propre studio d’animation, ne laisse pas indifférent. Il est le premier Israélien à avoir figuré sur la liste « Midas » des 100 investisseurs « high tech » du magazine Forbes. "

ISRAELVALLEY PLUS
Erel Margalit (1 January 1961) is an Israeli politician and a high-tech and social entrepreneur. He is currently a Member of the Knesset on behalf of the Labor Party. Previously, he was the founder and managing partner of the Jerusalem-based venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP).

In 2010, The Marker Magazine named him the best venture capitalist in Israel. Margalit is a founder of the Avoda Now movement in 2011 which aimed to rehabilitate the Labour Party following the split by Ehud Barak and the creation of Haatzmaut Party. In 2013, Margalit was elected to the 19th Knesset as a representative of the Labor party.

Margalit currently serves as a member of the prestigious Finance Committee and the Science and Technology Committee. He chairs the Parliamentary Task Forces for Economic Development in the North and the Negev, Cyber Protection and Combating Living Costs in Israel, and co-chairs the Parliamentary Task Force for Small and Medium Businesses, Integrating the Ultra-Orthodox in the High-Tech Sector, Employment for the Arab-Israeli Sector, 40+ Employment, and the Task Force for the City of Jerusalem.

Erel Margalit was born in Kibbutz Na’an the eldest of three siblings. His father, Itzik Margalit, was one of the founders of Moshav Kfar Haim, and his mother, Mickey, was a founding member of Moshav Avihail. In 1969, the family was sent on a mission to Detroit, Michigan where his father was head of a local Hebrew school.

While in high school in Michigan, Erel became a point-guard on a local basketball team. After returning to Israel in 1971, he attended Rene Cassin High School in Jerusalem where he continued to play basketball. Recognition of his talent led to an offer to join the Israeli youth team, but he declined in favor of serving in an IDF combat unit.

He served in the Golani Brigade’s “Orev” unit as an operations officer, reaching the rank of sergeant major. As a reservist in 1982, he fought in the First Lebanon War with the IDF’s airborne anti-tank division.

Margalit studied philosophy, logic, and English literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he met his future wife. In 1985 Margalit moved to New York to attend Columbia University where he continued towards a doctorate in philosophy and logic. During his studies he was exposed to Michael Porter’s “The Competitive Advantage of Nations,” which influenced his doctoral dissertation on the subject, “The Entrepreneur as a Leader in the Historical Process.” which he completed in 2007.

In response to the First Intifada and the anti-Israel activities on American campuses, Margalit organized a dialogue group between Israeli and Arab students. Together with other Israeli doctoral students, among them Yossi Dahan and Yossi Bachar, he established groups on eight leading campuses.

Returning to Israel in 1990, Margalit began to work at the Jerusalem Development Authority under Uzi Wexler, promoting business development and technological entrepreneurship in Jerusalem under Uzi Wexler. During this time, he worked closely with Teddy Kollek. He also worked in cooperation with American governors, among them Mario Cuomo of New York, Pete Wilson of California, James Florio of New Jersey and Rodney Wallace of Massachusetts. Margalit helped to attract dozens of technology companies to Jerusalem with the aim of turning the city into a high-tech capital for Israel. In three years, he succeeded in bringing in 70 large technology companies, including Digital and IBM. In June 1994, Margalit left the JDA and embarked on an independent career.

Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP)

JVP Media Quarter in Jerusalem
In 1993, Erel Margalit founded the JVP venture capital fund. He created a new model that integrated an active management approach with a strategy of forming an international market. Under his leadership, JVP has been instrumental in building dozens of high-tech startups into global corporations operating in Israel, the United States, Europe and Asia. Under his leadership, the JVP Fund currently runs investments of approximately 850 million dollars in eight funds, and specializes in investments in media, internet, mobile telephony, advertising and gaming industries. Erel has personally led seventeen successful exits, including the sale of Chromatis Networks, to Lucent Technologies in 2000 for $4.82 billion, the highest amount ever paid to an Israel company and the IPO of Qlik Technologies, which as of April 2011 was valued at over $2 billion.

The Media Quarter
In 2006, Erel Margalit formed and developed the new Media Quarter in and around the historical train station compound in Jerusalem. The Media Quarter, JVP Media Labs, a technological incubator, and The Lab, an arts incubator for Jerusalem performing artists, operate side by side. Currently over 300 young employees work in the Media Quarter, including engineers, artists, authors, filmmakers, and cultural figures. The Media Quarter has become one of the most innovative cultural and business scenes in Israel.

In 2002, Marglit founded the social organization “Bakehila” (In the Community) as a means of reducing the socio-economic gap affecting disadvantaged children in Jerusalem. Bakehila runs educational programs in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods of Jerusalem with the goal of raising the students’ academic achievements, and promoting the children’s personal and interpersonal growth. Thousands of students from Jerusalem have attended the program during its first eight years. In 2012, Bakehila opened an educational enrichment center in the Arab neighborhood of Beit Safafa.