Israel is known as the land of the “start up nation”. Ergo, it must channeling a lot of resources towards helping small and medium sized companies. Right?

Back in May 2016 last year, a World Bank report ranked Israel 53rd out of 186 as a place for conducting business. “Among 37 developed countries in the survey, Israel ranked 34th: only Turkey, Greece and Luxembourg ranked lower.”

It ranked eighth for protecting minatory investors, but 56th for starting a business; 96th for dealing with construction permits; 103rd for paying taxes; and 127th for registering property, which the report said required an average of six procedures taking 81 days, and at a cost equal to 8.3% of the property’s value.

Not very encouraging. And to me this is especially worrying. I am a business coach and mentor. I have several clients in the Jerusalem area, who consider themselves in the SME (small / medium sized enterprise) bracket. And everyone knows that the heart of all national economies are the small entrepreneurs.

All this is by way of a preview to introducing the report released yesterday by Israel’s Ministry of Economics. Of the 340m shekels (say, US$90 m) awarded in investment grants during 2016, 256 million or 75% was handed over to SMEs. And of the 103 projects, 92 could be found in peripheral areas of the north or south. Well, that is more welcoming!

The breakdown continues. As opposed to high-tech, metal and plastic companies led the way with a combined 43% of the investments. The ministry has estimated that over 1,500 new positions of employment were created. Revenues increased by over 3.7 billion shekels. Very welcoming indeed.

However, for all the healthy numbers is this enough? A good start, maybe, but the answer has to be a resounding “no”! To make my point, this time I shall resort to anecdotal evidence from some clients of mine.

Story 1: He had a short-term cash flow issue. The bank rushed to the rescue with an immediate 18 month bridging loan. Fine, but afterwards I checked the terms. The rate of interest is 11%, in a country with near zero inflation. Crippling!

Story 2: I have several clients who have applied to government schemes for loans. Most are giving up, as the peculiarities of their circumstances means that they cannot triumph over the paperwork. Pathetic an demoralising.

Story 3: Receiving all the necessary licenses required for a food business – a restaurant or a manufacturing facility – is almost fatally bureaucratic. As my clients tend to find out, the rule of thumb is to start operating and then hope things work out. And when you think about it, that process makes a nonsense of needing the licenses in the first place.

Where to now? Well last year, the government set up a committee to look into relieving bureaucracy for small businesses in Israel. I believe the team has yet to report. Need I say any more?