Kellogg/Recanati-02

Allan Barkat writes: "It has been three years since I left Apax. In this period, I have been combining my business experience with social entrepreneurship. As a result, I came to believe that there is an opportunity to encourage social entrepreneurs to build social businesses on a for-profit basis, so I have decided to invest and back several ventures of this nature.

"The first investment is backing social entrepreneur Assaf Blank in the acquisition of a Tel-Aviv restaurant, Lilit (Lilit-pfs.com). The restaurant offers fine kosher meat cuisine and provides youth in distress the opportunity to acquire vocational training in the culinary world. Lilit has been managed during the past seven years by Elem, a nonprofit organization. Each year, we accept 15 teenagers that have lost their way and provide guidance, training and a job for six to 18 months. To this end, we have specially qualified chefs in the kitchen and a social worker from Elem on the restaurant team. With the change of ownership, our challenge is to introduce business practices and sustainability, as well as strengthening and broadening the customer base. This will enable us to improve the business model and profitability, and expand to new locations across the country, enabling more teenagers to benefit from this program. Elem will continue to partner with us and support the social program."