Ingrid Ye Reps Rainbow Medical

Ingrid Ye was in the right place at the right time. At a time when many young Chinese professionals set their eyes on America or Europe to broaden their experience, Ye decided in 2012 to pursue an MBA at Tel Aviv University. “I had just read the Start-Up Nation book about Israel and I thought that coming to Israel might provide me with opportunities in a place uncrowded with Chinese,” she said. While studying at TAU, she met the managers of Rainbow Medical just as the Israeli firm was looking for someone familiar with Chinese culture to facilitate collaborations. She began to work for Rainbow and today heads the Israeli company’s office in Shanghai. “Until a few years ago, there was not much activity between Chinese and Israelis in the medical device sector, but now there are delegations coming and going between the two countries all the time,” she observes. She points out that one of the challenges of her job is getting Chinese companies to make their first investment in Israel. “They have been investing in American and European companies for quite awhile, but once they see that working here is actually quite safe they are able to see the potential of Israeli innovation.” She notes that by supporting Israeli R&D the Chinese investors expect to be able to help bring products to large international markets. “For the Israeli industry this will lead to the creation of more jobs as Israeli professionals support international marketing and distribution efforts.”