Kav Mashve:
training the business leaders of tomorrow
Two-year Al-Mada program empowers Arab managers to reach senior positions in top Israeli companies
Running alongside an MBA degree at the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University, it incorporates leadership workshops, professional retreats, and a study visit to an international institution, to provide participants with the experience and learning to fulfill their potential.
Each cohort includes 15 to 20 Arab professionals, all of whom are expected to secure senior management roles or expanded responsibilities within a year of graduation.
In recent decades, corporate giants such as Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta, along with an ecosystem of smaller enterprises supporting their vast operations, have woven technologies and services into the very fabric of our daily lives and the global economy, altering how we connect, communicate, and even think. However, despite their sweeping influence and transformative reach, these industry leaders and their networks face growing criticism for their persistent lack of diversity.
This critique is echoed in countries like Israel, where a similar issue is evident across its high-tech sector and beyond.
A leadership gap in the ‘Start-up Nation’
In a place where innovation and technology reign supreme, a stark reality persists: Israel’s business sectors remain largely homogeneous, with Arab professionals significantly underrepresented in leadership roles. Despite constituting roughly 21% of the population, Israeli Arabs account for only 5% of employees in the business sector and a mere 0.3% of managers in the nation’s 50 largest companies.
This disparity exists not just in the workplace. Within the realm of higher education, only 3.7% of students pursuing master’s degrees in business and management sciences come from the Arab community.
The barriers are multifaceted, extending beyond skills gaps to include cultural differences, language obstacles, and a scarcity of networking opportunities. Many Israeli Arabs, often isolated from mainstream Israeli Jewish culture until after high school, find themselves hesitant to navigate a professional landscape where they feel unfamiliar with prevailing norms.
Creating opportunities with a vision
In response to these challenges, the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation in Israel in partnership with Kav Mashve launched the Al-Mada program in 2020.
Open to Israeli Arab university graduates with at least five years of business experience, candidates are recommended by their employers for their potential to rise within their organizations. Once enrolled, participants engage in a rigorous blend of academic study, leadership workshops, professional retreats, and international learning experiences at prestigious institutions such as Cambridge Judge Business School in the UK and IMD in Switzerland.
“We are not just developing leaders; we are shaping the future of industries by emphasizing the strength found in diversity.”
Maram Mireb, Deputy Executive Director of Kav Mashve
A broader perspective
Importantly, the international component of the program enriches participants’ learning by offering a global leadership perspective. For example, the second cohort at IMD focused on self-development as a leader and what it means to be a manager in business today. Discussions on global issues, how companies are adapting to ever-changing political and economic pressures, and what is required from leaders to prepare and support their teams through these changes all bolstered their experience.
Amid rich cultural immersion against an Alpine backdrop, the group also visited international organizations in Geneva, such as the UN and CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, underscoring the vital importance of multidisciplinary and multicultural collaboration in tackling the complex challenges of our era.
Meeting people from diverse backgrounds, with different education and experience, is a key part of the program, encouraging the building of bridges among young professionals across geographies, occupations, and cultures.
“The 13 young leaders I had the privilege to guide faced geopolitical, intergroup, and emotional challenges that most leaders I work with could scarcely imagine. I am confident that the leadership lessons they gained will empower them to create meaningful change in their lives, organizations, and country .”
Jennifer Jordan, Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at IMD
Building role models for the future
However, this program is not just about those taking part in Al-Mada. When other Israeli Arabs see someone from their background in a management position, it sends a powerful message that leadership roles are attainable. Doors open, motivation grows, aspirations increase. Change happens.
Alaa, who grew up in the Druze village of Yarka in northern Israel, exemplifies its impact. Now serving as the Acting General Manager of Innovisec, a tech-based security innovation company, he has brought high-tech opportunities to his hometown by employing eight Arab professionals. “It might seem like a small number,” he says, “but for a village of 16,000 people in northern Israel with no high-tech companies, it’s a really big thing.”