Winners of the social entrepreneur of the year awards for egypt and jordan announced at the world economic forum on the middle east 2008

The winners for the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award for Egypt and Jordan for 2008 were announced this morning at a plenary session of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East. Sherif El Ghamrawy was recognized as the Social Entrepreneur of the Year for Egypt. Mr Ghamrawy is the Founder of Basata Ecolodge, a social business, and the complementary non-profit, Hemaya. Zeinab Al Momani, Founder and Chairwoman of the Sakrah Women’s Cooperative, was awarded Social Entrepreneur of the Year for Jordan.

In her speech at the World Economic Forum, Mrs Schwab referred to the social entrepreneur candidates as a “vital and essential part of society in the Middle East” and noted that “while they have built profitable and sustainable institutions, their primary motivation is not profit maximization, but maximizing the benefit for society and the environment, often revolutionizing entire industries or creating systemic change in the process.”

Sherif El Ghamrawy has fought relentlessly for the sustainability and conservation of Egypt’s natural resources on both land and sea. He is the founder of two complementary organizations. He pioneered Basata as the first ecolodge in Egypt establishing South Sinai and the Gulf of Aqaba as an eco-tourism destination. With the large-scale developments that followed, Hemaya was then created to deal with waste management on 150 kilometres of coastline with marine and reef protection patrols, and empowering local communities to run these programmes.

Minister Rachid, who had just presented the award for the Business Plan Competition for Industry, praised the Egyptian winner, stating: “Mr Ghamrawy’s entrepreneurial venture has created jobs in diversified industries beyond tourism, employing many local Egyptians in South Sinai, while preserving the beauty and natural heritage of our nation.”

Zeinab Al Momani’s Sakrah Women’s Cooperative promotes the economic, social and cultural rights of women in the remote and rural areas of Jordan while operating as a successful for-profit cooperative. Its women members cultivate, manufacture, package and market the cooperative’s products and share in the profits, while their children are enrolled in the child care programme or benefit from school and university grants given by the group.

The runner-up finalists for the Social Entrepreneur of the Year in Egypt were:

Raghda El Ebrashi, Founder and Managing Director, Alashanek ya Balady Association for Sustainable Development
AYB-SD is inspired by the power and enthusiasm of young people that believe poor communities in Egypt can contribute to the productive development of the nation if they are given opportunities and direction. Raghda Ebrashi created AYB-SD to consolidate a network of franchised student clubs involving Egyptian youth from various educational backgrounds in community development in old Cairo. The network contributes to poverty alleviation in economic empowerment and social outreach projects. AYB-SD has also established several social business subsidiaries, which have already earned almost half the organization’s income. Furthermore, the community work empowers and boosts the morals, skills and life experiences of the volunteering youth.

Magda Iskander, Founder and Chairperson, Care with Love
Before 1996, there was no out of hospital home-based care options for a patient’s recovery period in the public or private healthcare system in Egypt. Dr Magda Iskander built a fully self-sustainable, entrepreneurial non-profit that has created a new industry to meet the significant need for short- and long-term out of hospital healthcare. In addition, socio-economic changes in Egypt affect traditional family structures, leaving the ill and elderly without caregivers. In its unique four-month programme, Care with Love trains its own employees along with the employees of institutional homes, hospitals and other organizations for quality institutionalized or home-based care.

Iman Bibars, Co-Founder and Chairperson, Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW)
ADEW believes that the status of female heads of household, a traditionally neglected and disempowered segment of Egyptian society, can only be enhanced through social, legal and economic empowerment. By providing women with economic opportunities, and working as mediators between women and various governmental and private agencies, ADEW delivers the voice of women to the national consciousness. Roughly 25,000 women benefit from ADEW through microcredit loans, legal aid, literacy classes, health seminars and empowerment workshops.

In addition, 12 leading social entrepreneurs from the Middle East, the US, Germany and Australia are also actively participating in the sessions of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in Sharm El Sheikh. They develop innovative pro-poor business models in various fields such as energy efficiencies, fair trade, waste management, health, education, youth and rural development.

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship was started by Klaus Schwab, Founder of the World Economic Forum, and his wife, Hilde. Since its inception in 2000, the Foundation has been searching for the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, who implement innovative and pragmatic solutions to social problems by tackling the root causes and creating a social transformation. The current network of the Foundation spans 140 social entrepreneurs and their organizations from more than 40 countries. A recent evaluation study showed that the budgets and the number of beneficiaries reached of the selected social entrepreneurs grew three times faster while part of the network. In one year alone, the Schwab social entrepreneurs raised close to US$ 80 million as a direct result of the contacts and opportunities offered by the Foundation.

Further information on social entrepreneurs can be found at http://www.schwabfound.org.

© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)