Dire Straits once sang about getting their “money for nothing.” That’s not the way it works for University of Michigan junior Brett Siegal, founding board member and vice president of fundraising for Tamid Israel Investment Group.
Siegal, of Aurora, spends 30 hours a week outside of his normal coursework helping connect business-minded undergraduates to the Israeli economy through education, direct financial investment and fellowship. Ultimately, the student-led organization is designed to forge a lifelong link with Israel beyond the social, political or religious realms, he says.
The idea for Tamid, which means “everlasting” in Hebrew, was born in 2008 during a 3 a.m. dorm room bull session as a response to an on-campus movement calling for divestment from Israel. The students noticed a glaring omission: For all the guest speakers coming to campus to talk about Israel, no one was discussing its economy or speaking directly to the future Jewish business leaders of the world.
At the beginning of 2009, nearly two dozen freshmen and sophomores (mostly Jewish) joined forces with Tamid’s 15-member executive board to create the organization’s first membership class. Fund officials expect attendance to quadruple by early next year, while an advisory board of Israeli executives and fund managers, as well as three university business school professors, oversee the work.
As part of the group’s educational program, students attend weekly seminars to learn about basic investing skills and the structure of the Israeli economy. Guest speakers include a CEO from AstraZeneca, a leading pharmaceutical firm with Israeli ties, and venture capitalist Rick Zitelman, who runs a private equity firm with early-stage investments in emerging Israeli companies.
Although a small country with a population of over seven million, Israel is a hotbed for start-up companies, particularly in the life science and medical device fields, says Zitelman. The investor advised students to tap into business incubators.
Tamid is “a great idea that’s just beginning to take off,” he says. “There’s a very good opportunity for cross-pollination here.”
Sasha Gribov, organization co-founder and a senior business major at Michigan, agrees. “We’re aligning (students’) interests with those of Israel and the Jewish people,” declares the Mayfield Heights native.
In January, Tamid will launch a $10,000-$15,000 student-managed investment portfolio with a concentration on Israeli securities found on NASDAQ, reports Siegal, who is pursuing degrees in both finance and economics. The group’s board raised money for the fund through friends, family and outside investors and expects additional funding once the fund achieves nonprofit status.
In actively managing a portfolio of Israeli firms, participants will be making day-to-day investment decisions while learning about Israeli markets, Siegal notes. A large portion of the returns will be re-invested in order to grow the fund, while other monies will be used to pay for financial internships with Israeli start-up companies. Tamid leaders hope to send four students to Israel by next summer.
Ideally, student involvement in the group will not end after they go abroad, Siegal says. Upon return from Israel, students will have the opportunity to further build their leadership skills by joining Tamid’s executive board and vetting future pools of applicants.
All of this work comes with challenges, but the process has been exciting, too, Siegal says. Along with spearheading a marketing blitz through various Jewish newspapers and synagogues, Tamid officials met high-profile philanthropists and other Jewish leaders at this year’s Jewish Federations’ General Assembly in Washington, D.C.
“Laying all the (daily) groundwork is great experience from the logistical end,” says the young investor. “Aligning the program with our vision is also very cool.”
If the Michigan pilot program succeeds, Tamid will have sites at top universities across the U.S., each site
managing its own portfolio of Israeli companies. The group’s shared dream involves millions of dollars being invested in the Israeli economy and hundreds of students interacting with Israel in a unique, substantive way.
As Tamid is apolitical by design, Siegal is not worried about the group receiving any anti-Israel backlash. There are plenty of places to go on campus for people who need to scratch that particular itch, he says.
“What we’re doing is filling a powerful niche,” Siegal concludes.
For more information on the Tamid Israel Investment Group, visit www.tamidgroup.org.
