Shortly after immigrating he started working for Migdal. After being sacked in 1953, he began working for Binyan as an insurance agent. He was exempted from national Service in the IDF as he had suffered from polio, and in 1955 started an independent insurance company in the Shapira neighbourhood of Tel Aviv. In 1966 he established the Eliyahu insurance company, which initially dealt only with car insurance, before expanding to other forms of insurance.