Fourteen people across nine teams recently graduated from Sydney’s Shalom’s Ideation Project; a 3-month incubation program that develops not-for-profit, for-profit and social enterprise innovations.
Culminating in a live pitching event, participants competed for funding by presenting their ideas and fielding questions from a panel of judges and a live audience. The top prize of $2500 went to Rivkah Leah Cylich and Chana Corna, Co-Producers of “T-Time 4 Kidz,” a unique online Jewish educational program for children. Commenting on their win, Rivkah Leah said, “We will use the money to build a prototype website and a media pilot program. The Ideation Project was a huge learning experience and a one-of-a-kind opportunity to collaborate and form friendships with like-minded innovators. We feel so grateful for the support and encouragement that we received from fellow Ideators and mentors. With our sky high dreams, the program taught us how to build inroads towards real impact and empowered us to believe we can do it.”
The 3-month incubation program features a series of facilitated workshops and masterclass sessions with industry experts, all designed to guide participants through the initial start-up stages of the innovation process. Each team is also allocated a mentor who works alongside them to develop their work and ideas. The Ideation Project is a comprehensive, skill-development experience grounded in Jewish ideas and spans content from business models to theory of change, from pitching to presentation skills and more!
Shailee Mendelevich, who envisioned the Ideation Project said, “The program teaches people with great ideas how to challenge their assumptions, think boldly and become confident entrepreneurs. The Ideation Project develops leaders of positive social change for the Jewish and broader communities.”
Other innovations from the 2016 Ideation Project cohort cover areas of career guidance, sports-based leadership development, documentary making, health and wellbeing, technology and gamification, mentorship and addressing food insecurity. To connect with any of the 2016 entrepreneurs, for more information or to register for the 2017 intake, visit www.shalom.edu.au