TECH TALK: Isracard invests in start-ups in the field of digital payments

Ronen Stein, CEO of Isracard, said: “Isracard continues to lead the technological revolution in the field of digital payments."

By ARIEL SHAPIRA
Credit card (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Credit card
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The company has recently entered as a partner in the “Dorbil” startup that developed the app NEIGHBOR - this app helps organize building management systems, as well as taking care of home payments is rolling about 8 billion NIS a year.
According to Dun & Bradstreet, the branch of management and maintenance of buildings has a 2.2 billion NIS turnover each year, and consists of about 20% of the condominiums in Israel. The remaining 80 percent are run independently. An average home payment, is around NIS 100-200 a month, Without a maintenance management company.
Ronen Stein, CEO of Isracard, said: “Isracard continues to lead the technological revolution in the field of digital payments."
Together with Dorbil we bring another consumer revolution, a real message that gives clients comfort, simplicity and an easy way to use credit cards over cash and checks. “ Elisha Cohen, founder and CEO Dorbil said: “I am pleased to launch the new Neighbor app from Dorbil that will change the lives of people living in modern condominiums, this app will make the ongoing management and the connection between tenants easy, simple and effective.
Neighbor, provides a variety of services at a maximum comfort level to the condominium’s board and residents.
In the future as the app receives more users we will expand and allow additional services based on smart communication between nearby buildings.
The NEIGHBOR app is a condominium management system, for tenants and condominium committees: This new app allows a regular finance monitoring by the condominium committee, full transparency in front of all the condominiums occupants, an easy was to reports about building bugs, automatic receipts, direct deposit to the the committee’s bank account, collection and payment by credit card in an easy and convenient way for the house committee and residents, without dependency on cash or checks, managing all the building’s expenses in one place, the ability to make quick decisions in addition to receiving answers on legal issues that rise from managing a building, without the cost of it.
The app is ready to start immediately and is easy to use, it already has in the system all the residential buildings in every city, town and village in Israel. The use of all system capabilities will be free of charge for tenants and the building’s council.
The payment will be charged from the building’s council will be on the basis of turnover in credit cards and with 1.5% commission.
The product works on all platforms (web, mobile, tablet) and can be downloaded for free.
Payments: The system allows the user to pay all common types of payments in the condominium that are at about the building (condominium monthly payment, additional payments, renovations, etc.).
The app allows constant monitoring of fiscal spending of the house committee and total transparency in front of the tenants, automated receipts, and direct deposit to a bank account of the committee.
Communication: The system allows the user to communicate with the manager of his apartment building in a convenient matter, and allows the Board to make shared decisions with the tenants, vote on issues and rate services when they are received.
As well as the option to receive messages from a variety of governmental figures around, messages that are relevant to the specific apartment where the user resides.
(Cities where the service is active) Problems: The system allows users to report any faults to the building manager and gives him the possibility to deal with them in a convenient and easy way, using the ranking of the professionals that were rated by other condominiums in the area.
Legal issues: The system allows users to find answers to legal questions from a large database, and if there is no answer it is possible to ask a specialist and get an answer from an Attorney (free of charge).
Product advantages are many: The product can be downloaded for free, is available for Android and IOS. Credit cards are secured by Isracard, it saves time and money, gives total transparency of financial management in the building, collecting money through credit cards in an easy and convenient way, allows the homeowner to pay in credit - of all types of payments and transfers are acceptable and go directly to the boards bank account, helps the management of all the building’s expenses in one place, balance sheets and financial statements, and the ability to cut costs significantly.
Communication and messaging between the condominium committee and the tenants by asking questions, polls, votes and shared decision-making through immediate feedback. Allows the Committee to find professionals and help the other home committees around to find a professional that is relevant and reliable. Allows the Board of the house and the homeowner to manage all building issues in one organized place, receive answers on legal issues that rise from the joint management of the building, without the cost.
Managing a shared building calendar – where events, meetings or treatments in the building can be scheduled and reminders can be coordinated.
New science toy for girls highlights the importance of fun, role models, and community Dr. Yael Schuster, founder of The Know- ItAlls, announced the launch of an educational toy whose objective is to encourage girls to dream of science. While women make up 48% of the workforce, only 24% of science jobs are held by women- the KnowItAlls is focused on this early pipeline in a part of global movement to encourage girls in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Targeted at girls aged 8-12, the age at which kids’ interest in science begins to differentiate by gender, the combination adventure book + science kit + community membership promises to disrupt the pink aisle. Schuster explains, “Our goal is to show girls that they can be scientists by teaching fun, meaningful science, so we created a toy that is infused with exciting experiments, positive role models, and community.”
According to the 2015 OECD report on the gender pay gap, “Less than one in 20 girls considers a career in STEM compared to one in five boys.” This has significant implications on their future salaries, as careers in these fields are in high demand and among the most highly paid. Yet OECD surveys have shown that girls lack the same self-confidence as boys in science, which was attributed to striking differences in parental encouragement that exacerbate the problem. Dr. Schuster says, “simply put, society is telling our girls that science doesn’t belong to them, and parents lack the educational tools to bridge this gap.”
Dr. Schuster grew up in rural Virginia, in a family which she believes to be non-traditional.
“We were always playing with microscopes, model rockets, and chemistry experiments. It never occurred to me that girls and boys might play with different things.” Yet as she progressed in her career, she began to notice a very segregated structure. “Where I did my PhD, all the professors were male and all the secretaries were female.” While leading a group of female scientists at the Weizmann Institute, Dr. Schuster found that significant hurdles in working in a predominantly male field were common to many women, and was inspired to take action to change this for future generations.
So, she began working on developing tools to engage young girls in science and give them this missing confidence.
Through many iterations of workshops and focus groups, this took form in the shape of a story and a real-life toy. The story surrounds a group of four girls who are teased in school for being ‘know-italls’.
They reclaim this title and build an amazing chemical jet car, to show the world that being a know-it-all is actually quite cool. Their scientific journey can be recreated at home with the accompanying chemistry kit. Dr. Schuster envisions an entire world built around The KnowItAlls, with continuing products in different scientific subjects and an active online community of girls who communicate and empower each other through science.
The company is based in Rehovot, and intends to raise at least $25,000 during their 30-day Kickstarter campaign. Visit The KnowItAlls at www.theknowitalls.co.
Translated by Maya Pelleg.


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