Working at Shaldor

Anyone who has opened an economic newspaper in Israel in the last decade knows the impact that the current housing crisis has on the lives of all Israeli's and especially on young adults. So, I found a special interest in being given the opportunity to be part of a team designing an innovative and impactful housing concept, new to the Israeli market.

A leading real-estate developer wanted to know if Build-to-Rent (BTR), the long-term apartment rental concept emerging in London and other city centers in the UK could work in Israel. Our first step was conducting a "deep dive" into the British real-estate market that gave our team, and the client, many insights that proved valuable going forward.

The main disadvantage of BTR projects, compared to other real-estate alternatives, was low yield rates. A thorough Shaldor analysis showed that this would be the issue in Israel as well. Why then were so many real-estate developers investing significant funds in BTR? The answer lies in the risk profile of these projects. Housing has a very inelastic demand. In other words, in times of financial difficulty, shops and offices become vacant much sooner than apartments. The opportunity of a low-risk investment convinced the company that there is financial validity in BTR projects in Israel.

Next, we examined to clientele of BTR projects in the UK and compared them to future Israeli demographic trends. The type of BTR projects relevant to the Israeli market will be located in city centers and will aim for young professionals who want to live in young, vibrant locations that don't require a long commute to their workplace but are unwilling, or unable, to purchase apartments in these locations. In other words – Tel Aviv.

Now that we knew the location and target market for Israeli BTR, we were able to figure out the economics of these projects and design how these projects should look. Contracts will be simple, clear and long-term to ensure confidence, security and stability. Amenities in the building will include a game room, streaming and Wi-Fi packages, a gym, parking, a bar, and more, In order to offer comfort, entertainment and a sense of community.

Most of the consultant’s work is helping your client reach new achievements and provide solutions for challenging business situations. This project was one of the most complicated challenges I had to tackle, since it covered, well, the whole world.

A leading global software company, who’s active mostly in the US, wanted to expand its international activities beyond North America, and approached Shaldor in order to understand how to design this move. The company already had active sales in many countries, but it wasn’t as successful as the core business.

The company offers various products in the fields such as cloud services, analytics, SaaS and more. Our team’s main challenge was to understand which combinations of a specific country & product are the most promising, and what entry model would be the best for each.

The project itself included analyzing the company’s activities across different markets and business lines, and many interviews with the company’s managers, partners and clients along with local industry experts. For the most important potential markets, we have traveled to Japan, China and other countries in order to obtain firsthand knowledge about the local situation and identify potential partners.

After an extensive research, our final product was a tailor-made model for the client, providing specific go-to-market strategies for key countries, along with a set of general ‘market entry principles’. Those principles would allow the company to design its entry to future target markets, and provide clarity in a very diverse, no-data competitive environment.

At the end of the project, the company have fully accepted our recommendations, and have transformed its international activity model. Ever since, it has enjoyed remarkable financial results – its stock price went up by 55% and sales grew by 8% year-on-year. Nowadays, it’s in the midst of developing activities in the countries we have identified as key markets, with considerable success. I’m looking forward to seeing the company becoming more global, knowing that I had a part in planning this successful global expansion.

During my work at Shaldor, I had the opportunity to take part in a unique project helping Arab professionals achieve better employment. The project was for the ‘Co-Impact’ NGO, an initiative aimed at creating a breakthrough in Arab employment in Israel, with a focus on high-quality
professions.

Our team was assigned with planning the activities of the newly formed NGO when it was only a little more than a concept. The main ideas were aligning the activities of the various NGOs in the field by creating a coalition; and providing a practical 'business case' for
employers.

The project included interviews with 50 CEOs of leading companies to understand the
industry requirements, analyzing the ‘candidate pool’ to find the focus group: skilled,
educated candidates currently ‘under-employed’. The team then developed 4 ‘intervention models’ customized for different types of employer’s needs. The project also included
designing an organizational structure for the NGO and implementing the working model during the ‘pilot’ phase with the first 5 companies participating in the initiative.

One of the reasons I wanted to work in Shaldor was to make an impact on the Israeli economy. With this project, I’m proud to see the impact. Following the project, the NGO went into full work mode, with considerable success: in only 2 years, the number of Arab new recruits in the
participating companies was doubled. Within 3 years, 25 leading companies, some of the largest in Israel, joined the program.


The initiative was adopted by the office of the president of Israel, Mr. Reuven Rivlin. Our team was invited to present the project to the president.
Until this day, we continue to accompany the NGO’s work and support its activities.