STEF WERTHEIMER
STEF WERTHEIMER:
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR HARMONY AND ECONOMIC
GROWTH
SUSAN CHALOM
He is a firm believer in job creation and the benefit it
offers communities and society as a whole and he says
that the negative side of Tech start-ups is that they
can only afford to employ about ten people, and so
they cannot have the same impact on the market that
manufacturing can. He states: “I don’t see new factories
being built, and that worries me, because it means we
are not creating the jobs that will guarantee a good life
for Israelis.”
Each Park is based on five main principles: exports,
education, coexistence, community and culture. Twice
a week Wertheimer would commute by helicopter to his
main office in the north, inside the Tefen industrial park,
and he could be seen enjoying lunch with a few of the
workers. Alongside the 20 companies hosted there, he
has also created museums of art and Germanic-Jewish
history as well as a sculpture garden.
STEF WERTHEIMER
recently celebrated his 90th birthday. Born in Germany
in 1926, he has led an interesting and fulfilled life.
Not only has he attained wealth through his successful
business, he is also well respected for the philanthropic
work he has done in Israel, particularly the six local
industrial parks he helped to fund and develop. Seen as a
“Capitalist” Kibbutz, they integrate people from varying
backgrounds with the aim of work and profit. To date, he
has created more than 4000 jobs in over 200 companies,
with Israelis and Palestinians working side-by-side.
Shortly before World War II, at ten years old, he and
his family fled Germany and settled in British Mandate
Palestine. Wertheimer left school at 14 and began making
weapons for the Jewish underground, preceding the War
of Independence, in which he served in the Special Forces
unit. A few years later, he was creating small industrial
tools at home and running a make-shift business. “There
were no jobs, this area was agricultural, and I decided
that I had to do something on my own,” says Wertheimer,
highlighting his entrepreneurial spirit from a young age.
That humble business grew into Iscar Metalworking, a
manufacturer of industrial precision metal-cutting tools.
It has grown exponentially over the years and in 2013, he
sold his business to Warren Buffet. Whilst referring to the
collaboration between different communities working at
these parks, Buffett commented that both “Iscar and the
Tefen Industrial Park should be taken as an example …
around the world of what can be done against all odds.”
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Wertheimer spent four years as a member of the Knesset,
during the 1980s, but realised that he could accomplish
more through industry and entrepreneurship than he
ever could through government or politics.
“… he has
created more
than 4000
jobs in over
200
companies,
with Israelis
and
Palestinians
working
side-byside.”
According to Wertheimer, “The industrial park in Arab
Nazareth is a good example of coexistence. When people
work together, they have no time for nonsense. They’re
too tired at night to commit terrorist acts. They’re
satisfied, they engage in producing. They work together,
not against each other.” His legacy is the number of
lives (irrespective of background) that he has positively
impacted.
His list of accolades is appropriately long and farreaching. In 1991, he received the top award in Israel
– the Israel Prize - and recently, the Buber-Rosenzweig
medal in Germany for his work in encouraging peace
through entrepreneurship, as well as the Federal Cross of
Merit – which is the highest award in Germany.
His deep commitment to education has led him to establish
technical and entrepreneurial programs, and he has been
awarded a number of honorary degrees. He has written
two autobiographies, Man at a Machine and The Habit of
Labour: Lessons from a Life of Struggle and Success.
Wertheimer envisions building an additional 100
industrial parks through funding from the West, not
only in Israel but around the world. He has already built
one in Turkey, and hopes to build one in Jordan too. He
states on Israel, “For us to become a nation, everyone
- including Arabs, Druze, ultra-Orthodox and new
immigrants - must feel that they belong. Their success
is extremely important to us. If they succeed, they will
come to understand the advantages of democracy and
freedom.” ■