Building on experience

The two are today managers of a publicly traded company that has built thousands of apartments in Israel. Starting in 2020, the company uses its extensive experience and knowledge to expand and deepen its activities in the field of urban renewal under the leadership of Mrs. Noi Dotan. In addition, for an entrepreneurial arm company that carries out successful and profitable real estate activities in Croatia and Serbia, “we have always been solid people, many times people from the industry came to us and told us, or rather asked us – while trying to convince us, to leverage ourselves more so that we can move forward quickly. But at times like this I always quoted a friend of my late father, a wise guy of Druze descent who always said, ‘When you go up a step and another step, the chance that you will reach the top is high. But if you go up two steps at a time, the chance that you will fall on the way is high.’ this worldview since the founding of the company,” says Ami Bar Mashiach.

Indeed, this path led the two to turn Almogam in 2010 into a reporting company with access to bond raising and the capital market, and in 2020 the company became a public company traded on the Israel Stock Exchange, “in March 2020, With the beginning of the corona, we made the share issue and it gave us a serious boost. We are a solid public company with skilled personnel, a skilled and experienced management team, a company that is able to do many projects at the same time without jumping over the navel. We did not bring ourselves to a capital to balance sheet ratio of 10% – for the investors, on the other hand we did not waste the potential for future capital growth and remained with 25% of the public’s share of the capital – for the capital holders. We are in the twenty percent capital to balance sheet area. Cautious but daring”.

“Companies should conduct themselves in such a way that the crisis does not put them with their backs against the wall”
When trying to break down in detail how to survive challenging periods of crises, Ami Bar Mashiach and Mario Zozel have some important tips. “You have to be at your best in times like this. This is a time when we are mobilizing the engineering, entrepreneurial and marketing knowledge we have accumulated in the company to move the company forward,” says Bar Mashiach, “We know these downs and we know that after them will come the ups. We have a good foundation in the company and it helps us with the various challenges. For example, throughout the years we made sure to carry out ‘in-house’ sales and not outsource the sales to intermediaries, and in this way we created a lot of internal experience that proves itself in the sales that are carried out despite the difficulties in the current period. As owners, we also have many years of experience and training that gives us added value : I am a civil engineer and this gives me a point of view that knows how to plan construction in the right way, to avoid mistakes and to know how to correct mistakes that have occurred. At the same time, for most of the years I managed marketing and sales. Today we have a deputy general manager who is also responsible for marketing and sales, among other things, but the years I performed in this position help We are very good at carrying out tasks and meeting goals. This is a time when it is necessary to generate creativity in sales since it is impossible to sell at high prices, but also not to lower prices just to meet targets or to roll over and absorb unprofitable projects. You have to be realistic in the goals that the companies set for themselves and come up with wining promotions, such as, for example, a promotion on the interest rates, or other gimmicks that produce real added value for the tenants. At the same time, Mario, for his part, took on the heavy task of execution and all day he ‘pulls out of the drawers’ many decisions that come from experiences and challenges he has already experienced in the last decades, which means that we have an answer and an optimal answer to every problem that arises – a critical matter at a time when many companies every A shekel counts”.

Mario Zozal and Ami Bar Mashiach (Photo: Public Relations)

His words are also joined by Mario Zozel, who claims that this is a period in which great vigilance is required for everything that happens in the market, including everything related to working relationships with suppliers and contractors, “One of the signs of this period and periods that preceded it is that it is enough that a supplier falls, or a contractor collapses, and a domino effect is created that delays the entire chain of action and your ability to work is impaired.”

The two also note the fact that the pressure on the industry creates opportunities as mentioned. RMI is also forced to lower prices since most of the companies do not have money, but the Authority still has to meet certain targets. This causes the Authority to lower land prices while creating opportunities for liquid companies. To this must be added, of course, the entrepreneurs who sell land due to cash flow distress. “It is important for companies to have They have access to money, such as in the case of public companies that can increase liquidity by raising bonds. True, the interest rate is high, but the opportunities that are beginning to arise have a significant chance of becoming extremely profitable,” explains Bar Mashiach.

Looking ahead, the two choose, even after four decades of doing to continue building, while maintaining a practical, cooperative, calculated, responsible and ambitious approach, “There are ups and downs in business and there should always be Connected to the ground while looking at the glass half full. Knowing how to raise your head during the difficult times and when the good moments come, not to forget that there are times of crisis and to prepare yourself for them,” claims Zozel.

Bar Mashiach agrees with his words, “In general, I think there is no difference in the conduct of personal life and professional life. And here comes the matter of the ego, which is a fundamental matter: the ego must not rule us and the understanding that the ego is a barrier that prevents success It is an important insight. You need to know how to accept the other person and avoid friction. For many years, I was involved a lot in the field of freediving at a club in the south. At the entrance to the club there was a huge sign: ‘To everyone who passes through this gate – please leave the ego outside’. In freediving, the ego causes death, And in business, it can bring down the business, and this is exactly what we apply in our partnership, in the past, today, and also in the future. We have other long-standing partnerships, we also have external partnerships that have already ended, and we have always remained in good company with the people we worked with. We know how to do things for the long term”.

An interview with Mario Zozel and Ami Bar Mashiach, the owners of the public real estate company ‘coral’

d&b – knowing how to decide