Although New England is home to an estimated 100 Israeli-affiliated companies, experts say business links between Rhode Island and the Jewish state of 7.5 million are limited and mostly concentrated in academia right now.
Avi Nevel, a consultant who for years traveled to Israel and other countries building the export business of his former Central Falls company, Lawson-Hemphill Inc., a textile-equipment manufacturer, wants to change that. He’s leading a new push to build stronger economic ties between the Ocean State and Israel.
“If you say ‘Rhode Island’ to Israelis, they’ll say, ‘Long Island?’ And you say, ‘No,’ ” laughed Nevel, who was born in Israel and moved to Rhode Island when his wife did her residency at Women & Infants Hospital. “They don’t realize it’s 45 minutes from Boston.”
Nevel sold Lawson-Hemphill five years ago and now owns an independent consulting firm that advises companies on export strategy. With Rhode Island’s economy desperately needing new sources of dynamism, Nevel and others see big benefits for the state if it builds a strong relationship with Israel.
Marty Cooper, director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, noted that local leaders frequently stress their desire to position the state at the forefront of the knowledge economy, with an emphasis on technology and life sciences. “Israel is at the forefront of both,” he said.
Nevel sees benefits for Israeli firms, too, in Rhode Island’s familiar advantages – its proximity to Boston and comparatively low cost of doing of business, its small size, and its quality of life.
Cooper added that with its high unemployment and shrinking manufacturing sector, Rhode Island also has a surplus of skilled workers who could be valuable to Israeli firms looking to expand here.
To get the ball rolling, the Jewish Federation held a daylong series of events at locations around the state last month to highlight Israel’s prowess in the technology sphere. Among the 50 people who attended were Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, mayors and other community leaders, college presidents and business officials.
“I think there should be an opportunity for Rhode Island to tap into this water and to attract Israeli companies to come and open offices in the U.S. in Rhode Island,” as well as form strategic partnerships, Shiran said.
States like New York and New Jersey have opened commercial offices in Israel that are tasked with promoting the state to companies there and attracting new business for firms back home, and some have also set up bilateral chambers of commerce, he said.
Nevel says the next step should be a trade mission from Rhode Island to Israel next year – but “not a traditional trade mission” of companies seeking customers, he said. Instead, he wants to send R.I. Economic Development Corporation officials and representatives from the banking and real estate industries, then invite Israeli businesspeople to come to Rhode Island.
The focus would be on small startups and firms dipping their toes into the U.S. market to locate here, such as Perfuzia Medical Inc., a Providence startup that has created a medical device to stimulate blood flow in people with poor circulation. Its co-founder and CEO, Sagi Brink-Danan, is an Israeli who moved to Rhode Island when his wife joined Brown University’s faculty. The firm has raised seed capital and is now seeking FDA clearance to run clinical trials.
Brink-Danan spends about one-third of his time in Cambridge wooing business, but likes the cost savings of operating in Rhode Island and thinks other Israelis would too.
“Operating in Warwick is much less expensive, but not so far away,” he said. •
