Business diary

Hugo Bieber new chief at UK Israel Business

Sandy Rashty — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:30:59 +0100

A 29-year-old marketing expert has been named as the new chief executive of the leading organisation promoting trade links between Britain and Israel.

Hugo Bieber will take over at UK Israel Business on June 1. He said: “I am excited and feel honoured that the board of directors has given me the chance to continue to grow the organisation, creating opportunities for businesses in the UK and Israel.”

Mr Bieber, who was in charge of marketing for a US investment bank in London, is the current chair of the Young Norwood Business, Finance and Entrepreneurs fundraising committee.

He takes over at UK Israel Business from Daniel Seal, who will stand down at the end of June after a month-long handover to become the chief executive of AcreWhite, a company advising businesses on emerging markets.

Mr Seal said: “I am confident that Hugo Bieber will continue to grow the organisation.”

Nicola Mendelsohn named Facebook Europe chief

Anna Sheinman — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:20:09 +0100

Facebook has named prominent advertising executive Nicola Mendelsohn as its new head of European operations.

Ms Mendelsohn is the owner of advertising agency Karmarama and formerly the first female president of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).

Now living in Finchley, she was born in Manchester, where her mother, kosher caterer Celia Klein is still based.

Ms Mendelsohn studied English and drama at Leeds University. She is married to former Labour fundraiser Jon Mendelsohn, the chairman of Kinloss, Finchley United Synagoge. The pair are often to be seen at Labour Friends of Israel events.

Who's boss at Leumi?

Candice Krieger — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:37:33 +0000

The race to succeed Galia Maor as CEO of Bank Leumi took off this month. It seems there are three more candidates in addtition to frontrunners, deputy CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminach and Roni Hizkiyahu, former Supervisor of Banks.

Jay-Z invests in Israeli technology

Candice Krieger — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:37:33 +0000

It may seem like an unlikely pairing but US hip-hop star Jay-Z is the new face of Israel/US start-up Duracell Powermat. Jay-Z, whose wife Beyoncé this month gave birth to their first child, will serve as the new spokesman for the company and as an investor. Israel's Powermat, known for its wireless technology, teamed up with Procter & Gamble's battery giant Duracell last year to advance and globalise wireless charging stations. The partnership became operational this year.

The icon follows other major names who have invested in Israeli technology - actor Leonardo DiCaprio recently backed phone app Mobli. Jay-Z said: "I'm partnering with Duracell Powermat because they're providing the solutions for the future." Maybe he can rap about it in his next song.

Lev Leviev loses out

Candice Krieger — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:37:33 +0000

Not such a good week for Lev Leviev. The billionaire lost his place as Israel's top diamond exporter. Number one spot, published by Diamond Supervisor Shmuel Mordechai, went to Leo Schachter. His company exported $403m worth in 2011.

Salmon firm's Olympic slice

Candice Krieger — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 10:52:39 +0000

David Cameron gave a ringing message of support for Israel this week, telling the community's biggest charity dinner that after more than 100 rockets had been fired into Israel from Gaza in one year, the country had been "within its rights to search vessels bringing cargo into Gaza".

It was a reversal of his remarks in Turkey last July following the seizure of the Mavi Marmara aid ship, when he described Israel's approach to the Gaza flotilla as "completely unacceptable."

But Mr Cameron, who warned that "some people try to judge the Israeli government by a higher code than they would apply to their own government," urged: "Now is not the time to park the Middle East peace process" and asked Israeli leaders and those who supported Israel to "use the developments in the region to seize the opportunity for peace."

He noted that "for decades, autocratic Arab regimes have used the Palestinian cause to smother their own peoples' hopes and aspirations" but believed that young people in the region were waking up to this duplicity.

Mr Cameron's robust remarks to 1100 guests of the Community Security Trust - his second appearance in three years but his first as prime minister - were warm, friendly and bore the hallmarks of someone well aware of the issues most troubling the Jewish community.

Speaking after the Union of Jewish Students chairman, Alex Dwek, had directly asked him to ensure that the Higher Education minister endorsed Manchester University's guidelines for dealing with extremist speakers on campus, Mr Cameron assured his audience that he and his government would do everything possible to confront antisemitism and extremism.

Harking back to his Munich speech last month on the failure of multiculturalism, the prime minister said that: "One of the most immediate threats to the security of the Jewish people comes from the existence of a political ideology which I call Islamist extremism."

He distinguished between Islam and Islamic extremism, saying that young Muslim men had been drawn towards the latter because Britain had not succeeded in integrating them into British society. It had, he said, been a mistake for Britain to "passively tolerate segregated communities."

"The Jewish community is a model of how to integrate," Mr Cameron said. "Proud to be British and proud to be Jewish. If we can get that same sense of national pride and togetherness in all our communities we will all be safer as a result."

On campuses, Mr Cameron drew a distinction between "legitimate debate and illegitimate intimidation."

It was "absolutely right that students and faculty should be able to criticise Israel, in the way that any other country would be criticised. And it is absolutely wrong for students not to be able to express their Jewish identity because of intimidation, and absolutely wrong for university authorities to duck their responsibility in ensuring that there is free speech, and not intimidation."

The prime minister was both scathing and emphatic about his intolerance for extremism. He dismissed attempts to woo young Muslims away from extremism by the use of programmes such as the Prevent strategy. "It would be like talking to the BNP and saying, help us fight Combat 18. We don't do it for fascists and we shouldn't do it for other extremists."

Recalling his own Jewish ancestry - Mr Cameron's great-great-grandfather, Emile Levita, was a German Jewish banker who emigrated to Britain - the prime minister declared: "With me you have a Prime Minister whose belief in Israel is indestructible.

"I will always be a strong defender of the Jewish people, an advocate of the state of Israel, and I will never rest while the Jewish community in Britain is under threat."

Zabludowicz's boost to Israeli cyber surfers

Candice Krieger — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 10:52:37 +0000

Poju Zabludowicz's private investment group Tamares has been named the winning bidder by the government for Israel's second Mediterranean telecomes pipeline.

The country has been dependent on a single supplier for 15 years, so the news will be welcomed by consumers and internet users in particular. The cable is expected to considerably increase surfing speed and cut the cost of communications services. Thanks to an investment of hundres of millions of shekels,Tamares will lay an undersea communications cable and it is believed that this should begin serving the Israeli communications market within a year.

Tamares has significant interests in property, technology, manufacturing, leisure and media. The chairman of BICOM, Finnish-born Mr Zabludowicz is one of the UK's wealthiest businessmen, worth an estimated £1.5 billion, according to last year's Sunday Times Rich List.

End of era for Anglo American

Candice Krieger — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 10:52:31 +0000

Diamond billionaire Nicky Oppen-heimer is retiring as non-executive director of Anglo American, after 37 years with the company.

The South African's announcements brings an end to an era for the firm, one of the world's largest mining companies, which was founded by Oppenheimer's grandfather Sir Ernest Oppenheimer as there will no longer be a family member on the board.

Nicky Oppenheimer, 65, is also chairman of De Beers, but is reported to have said that his decision to leave "has nothing to do with his family's commitment to De Beers".

Oppenheimer will step down from the board at Anglo American's annual general meeting to be held on 21 April 2011.

It's a new era for British Israeli business

Candice Krieger — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:46:34 +0000

The great and the good were out in force this week for the inaugural British Israeli Business awards dinner, organised by the British-Israel Chamber of Commerce.

More than 300 senior business figures attended Tuesday's event at London's Millennium Mayfair hotel. Among them were Sir Victor Blank, property entrepreneur Vincent Tchenguiz and Sir Trevor Chinn.

The evening marked a new era for the Chamber, which will be merging with the Israel Britain Business Council at the end of the month to form UK Israel Business - when internet entrepreneur Marc Worth will be taking over from Michael Ziff as chairman. During the evening, shipping tycoon Sammy Ofer KBE was presented with the Israel Sieff liftetime achievement award in recognition of his business and philanthropic activities in both the UK and Israel. Bunzl plc and Arad Water Technology were named British and Israeli company of the year, respectively.

There were motivating speeches from Shai Agassi, the founder of Better Place, who spoke about his company's ambitions to revolutionise the electric car industry and universities miinister David Willetts, who had stepped in to replace the scheduled speaker Stephen Green, the former chairman of HSBC - he had duties in the Lords. Mr Willetts said the UK has much to learn from Israel's creativity and innovation. "We need to explore how Britain can benefit most from Israel's high-tech economy. There ought to be enormous potential for us to use Israel's innovation to propel UK economic growth."

B-ICC chief executive Danny Seal said: "The dinner demonstrated how far we came as an organisation over the course of 2010.

"It is our vision to turn UK Israel Business into the first port of call of bilateral business activities."

leeds accountant lands top director gong

Candice Krieger — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:46:27 +0000

Leeds businessman Colin Glass has been crowned the non-executive director of the year.

Mr Glass was honoured at the Grant Thornton Quoted Company Awards organised by Growth Company Investor magazine. He runs accountancy firm Winburn Glass Norfolk (WGN) and is a non-executive director of the AIM-listed Surgical Innovations plc, GETECG plc and Straight plc, in addition to several private firms. He is chairman of the British-Israel Chamber of Commerce (North East) and a member of the Etz Chaim Synagogue.