'Due to my economics degree at Tel Aviv University, I improved my thinking and analytical skills'

Thursday, 4 April, 2024 • 5 pm Israel Time|10 am EST

Tamar Uriel-Beeri, Managing Editor of Jpost.com, speaks with Tehila Yanai, Co-CEO and Founder of CofaceBdi, Israel’s largest business information group.

Yanai, who received her master’s degree in economics from Tel Aviv University in 1981 and was a popular lecturer at the university, says that her studies at TAU provided her with skills that were crucial to her success. “Due to my economics degree, I improved my thinking and analytical skills. This is one element that is very crucial in life as a whole, but especially if you want to become a leader in any field – the ability to think, elaborate, and analyze situations, material, and data. In my opinion, this is the most significant advantage I received during my studies at the university. I loved university life.”

She has put her analytical skills to good use in her long and storied career at BDI, gathering and evaluating information about companies and forecasting the future behavior of businesses, which is vital in assessing credit and loan decisions. CofaceBdi is expert in analyzing negative event indicators, such as companies that do not pay promptly or have other issues, and its “Red Lights and additional information” database, updated daily, is used by many businesses in Israel.

Yanai also developed an index of the best companies to work for from the employees’ perspective. “My philosophy is that a company that employees enjoy working for is one of the criteria for becoming a successful company,” she says. She says that employees can play a major role in helping businesses succeed, and how management motivates employees is an important factor to consider.   

Companies today need to be prepared for unplanned situations, she says, and while managers cannot anticipate every crisis that may take place, there are some elements that they can control, such as having sufficient financial resources available for several months to survive several months of inactivity, as happened during the Corona crisis, and diversifying sources of financing.