Christian CEOs Prepare to Pump Millions into Israeli Companies Through Virtual Event

JERUSALEM, Israel – Every year, hundreds of businesspeople from around the world come to Israel to meet face-to-face with innovative Israeli entrepreneurs and build partnerships worth millions of dollars. Most of the participants are evangelical Christians who seek to bless Israel by investing in the nation’s economy through business partnerships found at the ARISE Summit.

This year’s annual ARISE Summit on Dec. 7 will be virtual due to the coronavirus restrictions, but organizers say the pandemic won’t lessen its impact.

“The most important thing we are trying to do is to build relationships, connections, and facilitate real transactions between businesspeople in the international community and Israeli markets,” ARISE Founder and President Adv. Calev Myers told CBN News.

He explained this year’s conference is about “prospering in the new normal.” Participants will have the opportunity to interact with a Middle East that is vastly different than it was last year – one where Israel’s neighbors in the Gulf have made historic normalization agreements with the Jewish State, and where the COVID-19 pandemic threatens regional markets.

“We have speakers from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain,” said Myers. “People are now looking for investment down there. How do they go about that? Everybody is so excited that these doors are opening up – how much actual business is being created? What are the roadblocks to business…How can we navigate them?”

The summit's content will be filmed at the Media Center of the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem. Participants will enjoy talks from business experts, many of whom will focus on how Israeli technology can be used to cope with the effects of the pandemic. 

One of the most important parts of the summit is the “matchmaking” portion when global investors sit across from Israeli entrepreneurs to form business partnerships. The summit employs special software to make sure each business to business (B2B) meeting is tailor-made and productive.  

“We want people to come and not only enjoy the content, but we’re going to be constantly encouraging them to get into B2B rooms, see who else is participating, and participate in face-to-face meetings and do business,” said Myers. 

This year, those important B2B meetings will be virtual. In the three years ARISE has existed, business leaders have generated millions of dollars in transactions. 

“So far, 1,338 businesspeople from 47 nations have participated in ARISE B2B events, creating in aggregate $53M of immediate transactions and an estimated $404,400,000 of economic impact over the next 10 years,” explained Myers. 

Those numbers are based on survey responses received from 15-20% of participants filling out feedback forms. 

“We think these are actually conservative estimates,” he said.

This year’s summit is in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thousands of people are expected to join, and registration is still open. 

“If you’re a Christian businessman wherever you are in the world who is interested in Israel and the possibility of connecting to Israeli innovation, Israeli marketplace, then this is definitely for you,” said Myers.

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