After moving from Israel to Rhode Island to foster better business opportunities for himself and his family, Avi Nevel, president and CEO of the Rhode Island-Israel Collaborative, created the coalition that has been promoting and strengthening trade, business, academic exchange and research between Rhode Island and Israel since 2017.
The collaborative celebrated its fourth birthday on June 6.
Prior to founding the RIIC, Nevel was co-owner, CEO and president of Lawson-Hemphill Inc., a manufacturer of precision instruments and quality control laboratory equipment for the textiles industry. His company’s products were sold worldwide.
“I never had any time to volunteer. Once I saw that I was in position to do something that would help the community, I felt that building a relationship between Israel and Rhode Island was close to my heart because I admire the business ecosystems in both places,” Nevel said.
Over the past four years, the RIIC has helped Rhode Island business and policy leaders connect with Israeli leaders, using visits and trips to foster business relationships and education for both groups. Looking back since the RIIC's founding, Nevel highlighted four notable moments:
1. The Creation of Rhode Island HUB
In December 2018, RIHub was founded with the helping hand of the RIIC. RI Hub has served as a startup incubator and part accelerator, with resources such as mentorship and events in its wheelhouse as well.
Nevel played a key role in connecting the RI HUB founders with IBM, a cloud platform and cognitive solutions company with a global presence in Israel. Through Nevel, RI HUB was able to gain financial partnerships from IBM to support the creation of its first accelerator: IBM Alpha Zone, a six-month program originally established in Israel.
2. Gov. Gina Raimondo takes her first visit to Israel
This was the first visit for a Rhode Island governor to Israel, according to Nevel. Raimondo was joined by Rhode Island Secretary of Commerce Stefan Pryor. He attempted to build the political bridge in 2013. The visit was important to Nevel because Rhode Island was many years behind a state like Massachusetts, where their governor has gone six or seven times to Israel. “After so many years, I was able to convince the governor to go to Israel,” Nevel said.
3. The RI Latino small-business project
During the pandemic, Nevel witnessed that small and minority-owned businesses were facing immense setbacks — especially in Rhode Island, where 80% of businesses as small, according to Nevel. The RIIC and the Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce partnered with the Israeli-based web technology company Wix and Israel Consulate General in New England to help Rhode Island-based Latino business owners take their businesses to the next level. The partnership connected Latino business-owners to students who are pursuing degrees in design, business, marketing and web-based technology. The students worked with the businesses and helped create a free custom website on the Wix platform.
4. Virtual trade mission to Israel
Rather than take a physical trip to Israel last year, due to Covid, the RIIC partnered with the John H. Chafee Center for International Business at Bryant University to create a virtual trip that connected locals from Israel and Rhode Island to better understand geopolitics, economic relationships and more. The primary focus of the mission is to connect Israel’s research and development labs with Rhode Island’s manufacturers in aims to build global partnerships.
The RIIC operates on a 100% voluntary basis. While Nevel did not disclose how many volunteers are involved, he did say it varies per project. Projects are paid through membership fees or sponsorships.
“We are a chamber of commerce, so we cannot take donations. We are almost like a startup, with a shoestring budget and a focused laser target on the project at hand,” Nevel said.
