Brandeis TAMID, an international business consulting organization advising start-ups in Israel, was awarded the Outstanding Consulting Award out of 54 TAMID chapter organizations on Sunday, Sept. 1, at TAMID’s national convention in Maryland.
Brandeis TAMID is part of an international non-profit with three collegiate chapters abroad, said club president Mitchell Dodell ’21 in an interview with The Brandeis Hoot. The group is apolitical, said Dodell, and invests in Israel because of its high number of start-up businesses.
“I was just really excited that we got ranked,” said Vice President for Consulting Doria Leibowitz ’20. “I think as a club we are one of the clubs nation-wide that focuses more on consulting, whereas other clubs nationwide focus more on their fund track. The fact that we were able to get such a high ranking, especially given that we’re a small school… was super exciting for us.”
The award means that every company Brandeis TAMID worked with gave the club five-star rankings. Brandeis TAMID, said Dodell, also was able to spend slightly less time with each company. The club also had higher satisfaction ratings by their student consultants, said Leibowitz.
The award also helps recognize and motivate the work of student consultants, said Leibowitz.
“It will really get people excited to join both TAMID and the consulting track,” Leibowitz said. “I think it’s really going to motivate our project managers overall to keep up the good work.”
Founded in 2014, Brandeis TAMID works with start-ups and companies in many different industries, said Leibowitz, like biotechnology and animation. The consultants operate in teams of five to six students who provide free consulting to about four to five start-ups in Israel every semester, said Leibowitz.
While TAMID is also a social organization, Dodell stressed the professional side of the club. All students are welcome, said Dodell, even if they are not focusing on a business or computer science major.
Both Dodell and Leibowitz have been on Brandeis TAMID since their first years on campus, and Dodell said one of his favorite projects was working with the company Vibo, which supports a mobile app for DJs. Last year, Dodell designed software to identify the most popular songs in a certain date range, to helping DJs figure out what to play.
While TAMID consults on Israeli businesses, the club’s around 60 members also work to educate students on fundraising, financing, consulting and building a business model. It also facilitates a fellowship program with internships in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and provides a simulated stock competition against other TAMID chapters.
Editor’s Note: News Editor Rachel Saal is a project manager on TAMID and did not contribute to reporting.
