effective social entrepreneurs.
“Those journeys with my mother
represent the foundations of my
business,” she says. “They taught
me that only by being inclusive
can we overcome the challenges
that we face as a nation.”What motivated you to launch
Tasamy for Social Entrepreneurship?
A social enterprise is a business that
delivers solutions for societal change.
When I was growing up in Saudi Arabia,
I saw that there was a huge need to
empower young people who wanted to
build solutions for the social challenges
in our country. I reached a point where I
felt that if nobody else was going to do
anything about it, I would have to do it
myself. As a result, in 2011 my business
partner and I launched Tasamy.What are Tasamy’s goals?
Our general mission is to grow
sustainable and innovative solutions
to different challenges by empowering
social entrepreneurs and by partnering
with private— and public —sector
entities. The Tasamy office is full ofI HAVE LEARNED THATDOING THE RIGHT THING ISBETTER THAN SAYING THERIGHT THING. IT IS CRUCIALTO TRANSFORMWORDS INTO ACTIONS._LUJAIN AL UBAID,
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO,
TASAMY FOR SOCIAL
ENTREPRENEURSHIPOne of Tasamy’s success stories ThreadsN.
This social enterprise focuses on developing and
sharing STEM experiences for the next generationContent by the Buzz Businessminded entrepreneurs across
Saudi Arabia grow the businesses that
the country needs to tackle poverty
and other urgent social challenges.
Tasamy provides a full portfolio of
services to social entrepreneurs,
including training sessions, impact
investment workshops, and
incubators and accelerators, and
it develops social innovations in
response to specific issues.The businesses that Tasamy has
helped nurture include a women-run
furniture factory in southern Saudi
Arabia that has trained over 800
underprivileged women and just won
a major contract for a governmental
residential construction project.
“It is incredible to see the investment
that we have made in these women
transform into action,” Lujain says.With the success of Tasamy, that
young girl gazing in pity and frustration
at the misery around her has grown
into one of Saudi Arabia’s mostentrepreneurs who are developing
business models to meet these
challenges. Seeing Tasamy’s space
being used by entrepreneurs is
the best reward I can imagine.What has been the impact
of Tasamy so far?
Tasamy helped introduce the concept of
social entrepreneurship to Saudi Arabia.
In the first two years, we incubated 16
projects. To see people supported by
Tasamy go through their journeys and
flourish and blossom is so exciting.
Some of them are established and in
the growth phase, some are pivoting,
some have failed and come back with
new projects. It is incredible to see
the investment that we made in these
individuals be transformed into action.What support have you received
from official sources?
Vision 2030 has given Tasamy a
huge boost. The concept of social
entrepreneurialism has been fully
embraced by the current leadership.
We have won important contracts
with the small-to-medium-size
business authorities, with the
support of the government.How does Tasamy support
women entrepreneurs?
I am part of the female empowerment
movement in Saudi Arabia. If we
do not work on initiatives to push
women forward, we will not be able
to progress. At Tasamy, for example,
we have run training sessions on
how to say no, which is something
that women often struggle with when
talking to investors. And of the 11
employees at Tasamy, nine are women.
It is inspiring and empowering to see
women at work in Saudi Arabia today.Q & ABLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN FORX-6156512RH.pdf 03.05.2020 15:07