For more than 10 yearsMitch Goldhaar Proudly marches Maccabi Tel Aviv to achievement after achievement in the Israeli league. After a difficult period of acclimatization in the Premier League, he made the Yellows the most decorated team in the last decade while building a lineage that will be remembered for many years to come at the club.
Despite this, the Canadian billionaire does not often interview or talk and is not willing to reveal too much about his personal life and his way of doing business. Until recently. After being a guest about a month ago in a zoom conversation with Andy Ram and telling a little about Maccabi Tel Aviv, Goldhaar also took the opportunity to talk about his start in business in an interview with Leon Goren’s podcast “The Way Forward”.
“I grew up in a middle-class family,” Goldhaar said of his beginnings, “a traditional family structure. Mother did not go to university. She came to Canada at age 12. She is a Holocaust survivor. My father was born in Toronto. His parents did not study and they can barely sign their names, but they “There were smart, understanding people who worked hard. My father never graduated from high school and I am proud of that. He paved his way with a lot of sophistication.”
“We grew up in an urban environment, I have a brother and sister, Mom stayed home, Dad got up early and went to work and was always home for dinner,” Goldhaar continued, “My dad was an entrepreneur. A businessman. The background music was conversations about the business world and I drew from it. “My dad’s thing went into the real estate business and I heard the fascinating stories from his travels in the real estate world and I loved it. I knew at a young age that this was what I wanted to do. I was a simple kid. In the end it happened.”
“Businesses should be run by one person”
Goldhaar did start working alongside the family, but very quickly found his own way: “I love the family, but I do not believe in a family business. Business should be run by one person. In business it is like with Darwin. Someone has to lead. At 20 I started to turn. “For my own affairs. I decided to leave the family business when everything was fine. It was a good decision. Maybe I lost business partners to my father and brother, but I gained a father and a brother and we are all close to this day.”
Goldhaar went on to tell how his partnership with Walmart in Canada was born by chance, after he posted a sale sign on land he did not own at all and was summoned to a meeting with a company representative and then openly revealed one of the most difficult moments in his business life. “When Walmart finally came to Canada, I needed money, a lot and fast,” he said, “I chose one bank. They were great, they loved the idea. They gave me astronomical credit at the time of $ 64 million, which in the end, When it became known that Walmert was coming to Canada, he grew to much more. “
“Then, one day, they changed their direction,” Goldhaar continued, “they wanted to do other things with their money. It was in a time of global crisis. They called and politely said they needed their money back. I was 37 then and I was. “I owe the bank $ 475 million. The process I had to go through was very difficult. I thank them for this experience. It taught me a lot, including not lending from one bank.”
“I understand their decision. I went through a terrible time. I started to lose sight in my eye, I had no feeling in my hand. While I was trying to figure out how to repay the loan, I went through a terrible time. It took a year. It affected my decision making. I turned to Walmart and offered them To be my partners and finance the purchase of the land. Because I told them that every time I put money on land, its value goes up, but I suffer from the money I owe. I can not sleep at night, and they agreed and from there there was a big increase in business and we opened Walmart every three weeks for 14 For years on end. “
“I’m scared of the US market”
Goldhaar also remains whether he is considering entering the US market, and told an interesting answer that may also tell why he does not invest in a company from Israel: “I am afraid of the US market. I know you can gain a lot and lose a lot in the US. The market is illogically competitive. “In many ways, the United States is a company, not a country. The only thing worse than having a bad business idea is having a good business idea. A lot of people chase after you and are very competitive.”
“I like to create things with long-term thinking and strategic thinking like on a chessboard,” he continued, “in the U.S. waves are rising and falling drastically. I do not want to put everything on the line, even though there is an attraction to it. I love Canada. It is more stable, measured, less competitive to be honest. We do not have a dynamic economy in which any idea can receive funding. The banks are conservative and if you have your thing and you work hard, you can make a good run. “