Matan Hazanov, who is Israeli born but grew up in Toronto, was raised in a non-observant but very proud Jewish home and was first exposed to Jewish learning in JSU in his senior year at High school and quickly became the President of the organization. Always a proud Jew/Israeli, Matan never knew what it really meant to be Jewish until he started to learn with NCSY. NCSY gave him the confidence to continue his Jewish learning and involvement in University where he became very involved with Israel Advocacy in Hillel and eventually the President (where he represented 5000 Jews on campus). He is now a 4th year International Business student at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto.
His love for the Jewish people and Judaism as well as his desire to make the world a better place, Matan along with 2 friends Adam Renkosinski and Jordan Bizouati, created an organization called the Jewish Business Network in August of 2009 as a result of a leadership trip to Poland and Israel by Aish Hatorah, which aims to teach Judaism to aspiring business people while inspiring and developing them into leaders. The organization saw tremendous success in its first year operating out of the Schulich School of Business at York University (ranked the #1 business school in Canada) and has quickly grown to include dozens of Jewish leaders on over 8 campuses in Canada in just 1 short year. The organization continues to flourish under his leadership and touts hundreds of involved members, learning about Jewish values in a business context and attempting to build a more ethical business world.
Matan is also a serial entrepreneur who, with partners and by himself, has developed and launched businesses and is working on several projects. Matan takes time to learn almost every night and is growing in his Jewish observance. Matan aspires to eventually take time to go to Yeshiva for long-term learning in order to become a more successful person (both in business and in his personal life). His goal is to develop a JBN on every major University campus in North America and expand it to include programming for High School students and Young Professionals.
To see more info about the Jewish Business Network, please visit:www.thejbn.ca