About Esco

ESCO is the Israeli home for social businesses and social entrepreneurs. 

In ESCO we build social businesses and accelerate social entrepreneurs by building with them social businesses. 

This fast developing mindset enables enterprises and entrepreneurs to develop financially sustainable solutions to social and environmental problems thus building a better more sustainable world.

We use innovation and entrepreneurship to create a positive, sustainable change in the world.

We are passionate to build social businesses and take an active role in proving that such a commitment to a more humane, ethical and sustainable world can exist. 

The services we provide:

Our work in building social businesses provides social entrepreneurs, NGO's and businesses the following:

  • Initiating and planning the social business
  • Due-diligence to prove the potential social business can hold a triple bottom line
  • Pilot execution
  • Active entrepreneurship and management as co-CEO through the business plan execution, including marketing, sales, finance, HR and operation management
  • Capital raising and/or ESCO's investment through our fund (The LaunchPad)
  • Connection to ESCOs business partners from all 4 sectors: government, NGO, private and social business sector
  • Connection to ESCOs partners abroad
  • Connections to business development opportunities including to potential clients and to needs that the new social business can grow towards.

The LaunchPad

To help accelerate the social business being built in the accelerator and in order to build the capacity of the social startups and the entrepreneurs, ESCO holds a pre-seed and seed fund – the LaunchPad.

Private social impact investors and philanthropic funds that have invested in the LaunchPad see themselves as partners who share the dream to bring forth a triple bottom line economy. The return on this investment is both financial and social in patient capital characteristics.

This means demanding a return (100% return on investment in 6-8 years), and then appreciation in the 5 to 10 percent range, rather than the 16 percent that venture capitalists look for.”

Who we are

Nir Gordon

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Social business entrepreneur, business consultant, personal trainer and facilitator for organizational innovation and creative thinking. Entrepreneur and co-founder of Social Business School. For organizations, Nir has been consulting globally since 2004. This includes business development and creative thinking (as a facilitator at SIT-Systematic Inventive Thinking Www.sitsite.com ); Organizational development and management development (in CEO-Creating Everlasting Organizations, which he founded with his emotional intelligence teacher); Nir started his career as a navigator in the Israeli Air Force and after completing a BSc in physics and computer science, he worked for several years as a physicist in hi-tech.

Hagay Naveh

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A serial entrepreneur, owner of several companies and startups in the fields of technological online systems, mobile application, social games, and advertising platforms. In the last 8 years Hagay mentors and train entrepreneurs to make their dreams a living, breathing business. Hagay guides NGO's to create income generating businesses. He currently works on his book "From a dream to reality".

Eyal Avni

Senior Trainer and Coach (MCIL) leading entrepreneurs and managers, as individuals and in groups to manage their business and maximize results and successes. Eyal developed a career development platform called Manpower Talent for Manpower (www. Manpower-Talent.co.il ) using tools of emotional intelligence, positive psychology and creative thinking. Eyal previously worked in management positions at SIT-Systematic Inventive Thinking (Www.sitsite.com), a globally renowned company for innovation and creativity. In his past Eyal was the founder and CEO of a production company that managed large projects for large commercial companies in the country, including production for Disney USA. Throughout the years Eyal studied and worked in the areas of: group facilitation, body-mind therapy, Mediation, and Theatre play.

Our Portfolio:

Some examples of social businesses in our portfolio:

Elad- theater - The southern-most theater in Israel, operating in Eilat and Eilot Regional Council and in partnership with these regional councils. Elad-theater is a repertoire theater that brings theater and culture to the periphery. Its unique values include working with the community and with the disadvantaged populations in the communities (such as immigrants, youth at risk, the elderly etc.) to create its repertoire plays..

React – a social business that stops violence. The social business works mostly with youth at risk and populations that are at risk to experience violence. By giving these populations tools for self-defense, self control, high communications skills and conflict management skills we lower significantly the risk for them to experiencing violence 

Love Davka – an online dating service for people with disabilities 

Pakalist – an online store that deals with the high cost of living (more specifically the high cost of getting drafted to the military). Pakalist sells equipment for soldiers and new recruits with prices that are 50% lower than the prices of the regular store prices. 

Halom Hadash (a new dream) – a social business that educates in schools and in the communities for ecological sustainable living. This includes tutorials, seminars and workshops in building from recycled materials, communal gardening, eco-living and more.