Nonprofit Launches Loans For Stricken Northern Israel Businesses

Jerusalem-based nonprofit SparkIL, which enables Jews around the world to support small businesses in Israel, has launched a 10 million shekel (approx. $2.7 million) emergency loan fund to assist companies in the north who have been affected by the relentless bombing from the Hezbollah terrorist organization in neighboring Lebanon. 

Northern Israel is home to approximately 90,000 of the 660,000 small and medium-sized businesses across the country, SparkIL says, and has been long overlooked as a crucial contributor to the Israeli economy. 

The small businesses in the region employ some 500,000 people, many of whom have been evacuated from their homes. Thousand businesses on the northern border have also been abandoned for months due to the situation.

Business owners or other self-employed people in the north are eligible for an immediate, interest-free loan of up to 100,000 shekels ($27,000) per business.

The SparkIL platform is also enabling people around the world to directly support a small Israeli business of their choice, with loans beginning at $25 apiece. 

“For over seven months, business owners in the North have had to accept a stark new reality of evacuation from their homes and workplaces, non-stop rocket and mortar attacks, and possibly even a war on the northern front that could break out at any moment,” said SparkIL CEO Na’ama Ore. 

“That is why we have decided to harness the passion and generosity of both Diaspora Jews and Israelis who are eager to help, empowering them to become social investors through our platform. Each loan represents the importance of our mutual guarantee as an Israeli society and as a Jewish people to support each other, and especially to support the business owners in the North who are now facing a total collapse of their regional economy.”

In December, the organization announced a similar fund to help small businesses in southern Israel that were impacted by the war in Gaza.