Fadi Ghandour

07/25/24 • 44 min

Fadi Ghandour is a leading Arab entrepreneur, philanthropist, and social activist.
The founder of logistics company Aramex and start-up accelerator and investment platform Wamda, Fadi is also the brains behind Ruwwad, a pioneering nonprofit community development organisation engaging the private sector to work with disenfranchised communities in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine.
In this wide-ranging interview, he outlines why he favours "entrepreneurial engagement" over "passive grant giving" and the importance of grassroots community engagement and platform building.
UAE-based Fadi makes the case for long-term partnerships over box-ticking and explains why giving is about more than money.
"Change takes a long time, nothing happens overnight. You need to be in it for the long-term, you cannot just hit and run," he says. "You start with trying. Don't be afraid of the errors. Take the first step. The errors are where you learn and then you pivot... that's that's the "can do" mentality."
And he adds: "This is not about how much capital you have. This is about taking the initiative to go out and do... You don't need to solve the problems of the world with what you do, but solve a problem within your community, that's good enough."

Fadi also talks to our host, Anissa Punjani, about the war in Gaza and the needs of people in the West Bank and he calls on regional donors and businesses to think urgently about the "day after" and how they can help rebuild Palestinian lives and businesses.
Other topics covered in the interview include Fadi's optimism for the "new-gen" of regional philanthropists and the influence of his father, Ali Ghandour.
Find out more about Fadi Ghandour and the work of Ruwwad at Circle.

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Circle is a partnership between Philanthropy Age and the Pearl Initiative. It is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Circle is a partnership between Philanthropy Age and the Pearl Initiative. It is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Previous Episode

Lynn Zovighian

A philanthropist, an entrepreneur, and a humanitarian diplomat, Lynn Zovighian wears many hats - and all of them passionately.
In this wide-ranging interview for Circle, Lynn joins us down the line from Beirut (where the internet connection is not totally stable) to tell us about her personal philanthropic journey and what drives her to work with crisis-affected communities in Lebanon, Iraq, and the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Armenia.

Speaking to our host, Anissa Punjani, Lynn stresses the importance of community engagement, outlines why philanthropists need to work collaboratively with the people they are trying to help if they are to succeed, and calls on donors to relinquish their power.

Lynn also digs into the details of "Grounded in tradition, looking to the future”, a first-of-its-kind data report exploring next-gen giving trends in the MENA region, produced by Lynn’s Zovighian Partnership (ZP), in partnership with the Pearl Initiative.

One such trend was that when next-gen women are in positions on power in their family businesses and foundations, they are more like to support women and girls. But when men hold those positions, women and girls are not getting funding.

The data also revealed that many next-gen donors are choosing to give independently of their family vehicles. “They are personalising their giving and bringing in an entrepreneurial drive to their giving,” Lynn explains. “This is very different to our more anecdotal and our more traditional understanding of philanthropy in the region.”

As well as highlighting the findings from the report, Lynn makes the case for more support for research initiatives to create “grounded data” that can inform future giving and identify gaps in the philanthropic ecosystem.

In a heartfelt message to philanthropists starting out on their giving journey, Lynn concludes by saying: “Whatever you do, it's going to make a difference... Do not be overwhelmed by the magnanimous nature of the causes that you are serving, because every little help counts. Do not believe that you can save the world, but believe and know that you can make a difference then focus on your areas of excellence.”
Read Lynn's Circle article about the importance of data here.
For more about the ZP / Pearl Initiative research report, click here.

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Circle is a partnership between Philanthropy Age and the Pearl Initiative. It is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Next Episode

Nick Grono

Nick Grono, the CEO of The Freedom Fund, the world’s first private donor fund dedicated to tackling slavery around the world, joins Anissa Punjani for this episode of Shaping Philanthropy to talk about his new book on nonprofit leadership.

Nick has had a long and rich career spanning the public, private and non-profit sectors. A corporate lawyer by training with a spell at an investment bank, Goldman Sachs, he has been chief of staff to the Australian attorney general, spent ten years at International Crisis Group, latterly as deputy president and chief operating officer, and served as a board member or chair of several leading non-profit and advocacy organisations, including Girls Not Brides and Global Witness.

In this podcast, Nick shares what he has learned – sometimes the hard way – about how to lead teams and organisations. “The things that get you into leadership positions aren't necessarily the things that make you a great leader,” he says, highlighting challenges around managing budgets and responding to Covid-19.

Nick also talks about the importance of purpose, getting funding from MacKenzie Scott, and impact and how to measure it. "It can be really challenging to measure impact, but our work really benefits by having a better understanding of what we're achieving,” he says.

Other topics explored include the promise – and pitfalls – of collaboration and board relationships, challenges of leading nonprofits, and how he came to write the book and what he hopes it will achieve.
For more about Nick's book, How to lead nonprofits, click here.

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Circle is a partnership between Philanthropy Age and the Pearl Initiative. It is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.