‘Our employees enjoy Friday night dinner every day of the week’

The founder of a tech startup has said how growing up with Friday night dinners has influenced his company culture.

Anthony Eskinazi, the creator of parking app JustPark, said that the sense of warmth and togetherness was something he now sought to emulate among colleagues.

“We hired a chef, and, every day at 1pm, we bring all teams and departments together to mingle. It encourages and develops friendships and stems from being brought up in a Jewish home with a Friday night dinner tradition.”

Eskinazi was speaking at a tech event, hosted by the JLC and Meta Jews@, which saw more than 150 people working across the industry come together for an evening of networking and discussion at Meta’s offices in London.

Guests at the JLC and Met Jews@ tech networking event[Missing Credit]

The audience heard from a number of tech company founders, including Josh Hart of insurance technology app YuLife, Gabriela Hersham of Huckletree, a network of community-driven workspaces, and Eskinazi. The panel was chaired by Adam Benjamin, who runs Meta Jews@ - the Jewish employee group - for Meta’s Europe & Middle East region.

Sharing how their Jewish identity had influenced their careers, Hersham said that she decided to set up a community-based business “as I grew up in a strong Jewish community with a sense of support”.

She added that “chutzpah” had helped her command respect in the property industry, which is predominantly male.

Hart said that setting up his own business had inspired him to embrace his Jewish identity and community, which had been “the most rewarding and wonderful experience”.

Sharing advice on making a success of a tech start-up, Eskinazi said: “Follow your passion - I was passionate about solving a problem and the impact it could have on so many people. The journey is tough, if you’re not passionate, you won’t be motivated to persevere.”

Guests at the JLC and Met Jews@ tech networking event[Missing Credit]

Reflecting on the evening, Laurence Rosenthal, head of programmes at the JLC said: “The tech scene is thriving with contributions from the Jewish community, and it was a pleasure to meet so many people  at the forefront of innovation.

"It was inspiring to hear about the journey the panellists have been on, and we were delighted they were able to join us. We are grateful to Meta for their partnership on this event and all the work they did to ensure this could go ahead.”

Adam Benjamin, Head of Meta Jews@ for Europe & the Middle East, said afterwards: “The Meta Jews@ group organises many internal events each year for our region, so it was an absolute pleasure to work with JLC and have the opportunity to meet other Jews across the tech sector as well.”

(l-r) Gabriela Hersham, Anthony Eskinazi, Josh Hart and Adam Bloom[Missing Credit]

Rosenthal said that the JLC wanted to continue to build relationships with experts in the tech sector to ensure that their 35 member organisations had access to industry experts who could support them in digitalising the Jewish charity sector further.

He added that the idea behind the networking event was that while there were many community events for Jews working in sectors such as property and finance, there were no equivalent events which specifically served the tech sector.