SEKEM‘s Journal for Economy, Culture, and Society in Egypt
SEKEM Insight Nr. 84 - August/September 2009
Dear Readers, this summer SEKEM has awarded the „Heliopolis Innova Award“ for innovation in sustainability and science for the second time. In doing so the initiative aims to underline its commitment to fostering the research into sustainable lifestyles and scientific approaches of others. This commitment had already begun to show itself with the renaming of the „SEKEM Academy for Applied Sciences“ into the „Heliopolis Academy for Sustainability“ in 2007. Even though the core interests of the first academy had already been practical in nature the new Heliopolis Academy is today supporting the development of sustainable and practical solutions to pressing common problems like climate change or agriculture even more directly and vigorously. This edition of SEKEM Insight reports on a new scientific cooperation SEKEM has entered into, its efforts to award others’ remarkable achievements through prizes and other recognitions, and its support to research on how to fight climate change through agricultural development and alternative economics. It also presents a short introduction to the 6th Egyptian Competitiveness Report by Helmy Abouleish.
Your Editorial Team
Science
Social
Environmental
SEKEM and PH Weingarten Cooperate
Solar Workshop at the SEKEM VTC
SEKEM Presents Own Award
SEKEM and PH Weingarten Sign Cooperation Agreement
Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish and Managing Director Dr. Margret Ruep have signed a cooperation agreement between SEKEM and the College of Education Weingarten
On 25 May Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish was a guest at the College of Education at Weingarten, Germany. Dr. Abouleish used the occasion of his visit to Germany to present his Egyptian initiative to a public of students and staff of the institution in a public speech. He described how he and his coworkers managed to transform a chunk of Egyptian desert into a green, flourishing, lush landscape that today allows flourishing agriculture. More than 30 years ago Dr. Abouleish had founded the SEKEM initiative. On the foundation of a
bio-dynamic concept of agriculture, the production of natural medical preparations, and the production of organic textiles multiple highly successful firms have gathered under the roof of the SEKEM group of enterprises over the course of the following years. They have about 2.000 employees and most of them come from villages around the SEKEM farm that have developed significantly over the recent years. The recipe for success of SEKEM does not only lie in the sustainable economics alone but also in the social responsibility for its employees and
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