Yakir Cohen, married with three children from Nir Oz, is the owner and CEO of two companies engaged in solar energy. Established in 2017, Rigrin is engaged in consulting, supervision, licensing, building permits and project management, and employs 15 people. Green Brash was founded in 2020 and offers advanced washing kits for cleaning solar panels. Five people work in this company. Both companies are located in Beit Kama and employ employees from Kfar Gaza, Nir Yitzhak, Kerem Shalom, Bror Hayil and Or Hanner.
Yakir Cohen,
Cohen, like everyone else, is dealing with the impact of the war on his financial situation – alongside his personal situation, after his home in Nir Oz burned down. He now lives with other evacuees at the Yam Suf Hotel in Eilat.
About Black Sabbath, he says: "My house burned down, and so did the cars. Terrorists infiltrated our house and fought with us over the safe room door for about 40 minutes, including firing weapons and a grenade. One of the bullets that was fired penetrated the safe room door and hit me in the leg, wounding me. Then they burned down the house. As soon as the smoke started, we managed to escape from the window and escaped to Migonit, where we stayed for four hours until they rescued us."
No head to buy
Cohen talks about the decline in income. "As far as businesses are concerned," he says, "the situation is very influential. At Rigreen, there is a decline in activity, partly because many workers are from the Gaza envelope. We tried to provide as much response as possible, but it's very problematic when the workers have been traumatized. At Green in Mind, there's a sharp drop in sales, because people probably don't have a head to buy things like that now, and also because all of our salespeople are in reserve.
"I made a call to all the employees that we need to get business back to normal as much as possible. In the end, it will be good for us, as people, to deal with something. It's very hard when you're still fighting, but you're still trying to make a living these days."
Of his and his family's living in a hotel after their home burned down, Cohen says: "It's a very difficult time. It's a great hotel that gives us everything, but suddenly you're living in a hotel room, and it's not a home."
Closed businesses, photo: Coco
Asked if the businesses had received compensation, he replied: "We haven't received any compensation so far."
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