Alwaleed Philanthropies and Ashoka Arab World celebrate the graduates of the Innovation Factory program and the winners of the financial awards offered within the framework of their partnership agreement
Six months after launching, the “Innovation Factory” Program in Egypt, which is one of the main activities under their partnership agreement, Alwaleed Philanthropies “Global”, chaired by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud, and Ashoka Arab World celebrate the graduation of the first cohort of social entrepreneurs by hosting an “Awards Ceremony” where financial awards are granted to the winners.
The “Innovation Factory” training program was conducted by IbitkarKhana, the implementing partner and has benefited 17 Egyptian young social entrepreneurs.
The Awards Ceremony will be held last week of February under the auspices of H.E. Dr. Nevin Elkabbaj, Minister of Social Solidarity and honored with the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Lamia Bint Majed Al Saud, Secretary General of Alwaleed Philanthropies.
The “Innovation Factory” training program is one of Ashoka’s programs by means of which it seeks to support young social change makers and empower them to start their social ventures so as to make a strong and positive impact on their local communities.
It is one of the activities included in Ashoka Arab World and Alwaleed Philanthropies partnership agreement which covers 3 Arab Countries: Egypt, Morocco and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over a period of three years.
The program will be implemented with the aim of creating space for participatory learning and empowering social change makers in the three countries by building their capacities and preparing them to launch their ventures.
Her Royal Highness Princess Lamia Bint Majed Al Saud, Secretary General of Alwaleed Philanthropies stated that the Foundation strives to encourage social entrepreneurship in order to achieve sustainable change for individuals and communities, and to empower women and youth in the Arab world by providing the necessary support that creative Arab youth need to achieve their dreams and ambitions. Hence, we believe in the importance of our partnership with Ashoka Arab World in supporting social entrepreneurs to increase and enhance the skills of these young women and men so that they can develop their ideas and projects aimed at providing innovative solutions to the pressing problems facing their communities and increasing the positive impact of these projects on the areas they serve.
Dr. Iman Bibars, Regional Director of Ashoka Arab World and Vice-President of Ashoka Global informs us of the details of the “Innovation Factory” program saying that it kicked off in Egypt six months ago within the frame of the partnership with Alwaleed Philanthropies, in order to support the projects of young social entrepreneurs from all governorates.
It started with 56 youth with projects & ideas in the domain of social entrepreneurship, who engaged in a 5-days bootcamp. Based on a set of specific criteria, 17 of them qualified to join an intensive program where they trained on how to develop and expand these projects according to a real study of business plan development, marketing strategies, market research, needs assessment, financial management and analysis of challenges and problems. This in addition to providing the trainees with technical assistance, consultancies, mentoring and networking opportunities.
Dr. Bibars pointed out that the Creative Youth Competition was organized at the end of the six month for the young social entrepreneurs who are graduated from the above-mentioned "Innovation Factory" training program. The winners will be announced and their projects celebrated at the ceremony that will be held by the end of this month.
This celebration is the first within the frame of the partnership agreement between Ashoka Arab World and Alwaleed Philanthropies as it marks the end of the first cycle of the "Innovation Factory" program in Egypt in preparation for pursuing the other activities included in the partnership agreement.
