This initiative is dedicated to improving the living conditions of thousands of Egyptian citizens Cairo, 31 August 2014   EFG Hermes - the leading investment bank in the Arab world - donated EGP50 million to the EFG Hermes Foundation for Social Development. This donation comes in continuation to the company’s ongoing social responsibility endeavours and is targeted towards the sustainable development of several impoverished villages in Upper Egypt. The implementation of this development program’s action plan begins in 2015 and will benefit more than 30 thousand Egyptian citizens. Mona Zulficar; Non-Executive Chairperson of EFG Hermes and Chairperson of the EFG Hermes Foundation, commented on the subject saying, “EFG Hermes plays an integral role in social development in Egypt and this donation is part of our social responsibility towards the country, One of our main goals is to alleviate the pressures of poverty by developing social services in healthcare, education, housing, and water and sanitation, as well as developing and funding small projects that work on creating job opportunities for Egyptian youth. We work on achieving these goals by making effective contributions to the community and supporting sustainable development initiatives in these integrated fields” she added. Chief Executive Officers at EFG Hermes stressed on these same goals and ambitions, as Yasser El Mallawany elaborates, “The company strives to find solutions that can achieve the country’s economic, social and environmental goals, and that aim to secure a decent quality of life for all members of the community we work in.” Karim Awad added, “Social responsibility is one of EFG Hermes’ most important roles and goals. It is important to be part of the continuous developments that aim at resolving national poverty; health, educational and nutritional problems, and these are all immense challenges that cannot be resolved through donations and grants alone. They need good, well-studied, large-scale plans that, when executed, will guarantee continuous development.” EFG Hermes Foundation Executive Director Hanaa Helmy commented on the matter saying, “This donation is the result of a long series of proceedings taken by the Foundation to fulfil its social responsibilities and it aims to fight poverty in rural areas across the country. We have also worked in the past on the Ro’ya 2008 Sustainable Development Project, which aimed to rebuild and develop the village of Ezbet Yacoub. We oversaw the reconstruction of 450 homes and the establishment of a sewage water treatment plant, as well as a social service centre that includes a dispensary, a children’s nursery, a bakery, a sports hall and a dairy factory.” Helmy added, “The cost of this project’s implementation reached 28 million Egyptian pounds and it was successfully inaugurated in 2010. What makes this project iconic is that it did not focus on only one sector of development, but provided an integrated rehabilitation solution to the entire community, including infrastructure development, human resources, economic development and different social services.” It is noteworthy that Qena and Souhag are among the governorates included in the Foundation’s development plans. There are 124 villages in Souhag and 48 others in Qena that are among the poorest 500 villages in Egypt. Unemployment rates in these villages exceed 60% even though these governorates can potentially be extended into the surrounding deserts and have a diverse economic base that can be broadened to include new activities. Moreover, these governorates have an avid crafts culture, and all these factors combined can help create countless new job opportunities and see to the development of industrial zones and new small projects.   All these social endeavours aim at reinforcing the country’s infrastructural facilities including housing, electricity, water and sewage projects. They also support the development of human resources, vocational training and the economic development of new villages by launching new income-generating projects that will help support more than 30 thousand Egyptian citizens, in addition to the execution of different social service projects that include bakeries and medical clinics. EFG Hermes recently also donated 20 million Egyptian pounds to the Long Live Egypt fund as part of the company’s loyalty to the country and in fulfilment to its goal of continuously supporting the Egyptian economy.