Four months ago I had the opportunity to travel to Egypt and meet some of my local Yahoo! Middle East colleagues as well as the team at an extraordinary Egyptian nonprofit, Nahdet El Mahrousa (NM).  The trip proved to me again, that people (and traffic by the way) are virtually the same all around the world.   During this particular visit, it was the spirit of entrepreneurism that struck the common chord.   NM has been particularly successful in engaging youth who have innovative enterprise ideas and just need a platform to bring these to life.

This is why we are proud to announce our partnership with them today.  The campaign, Social Innovation Starts with YOU will inspire thousands of Egyptian youth to submit entrepreneurial ideas that make a positive impact on the world.   We will be making up to 10 grants to Egyptian youth, funding both new ideas as well as existing ones that need additional support to scale up.

The campaign is also aligned with the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship that the White House is hosting on April 26^th and 27^th.  Jerry Yang, our co-founder has the honor of delivering a keynote speech addressing entrepreneurship and innovation.  His personal and professional story is such a great illustration of how a couple of college students with a good idea, access to some funds and the support of mentors (oh, and a good yodel), can change the world.

Speaking of mentors, to kick off the campaign, Yahoo! is featuring entrepreneurs who will serve as role models and inspiration, and over the next few months we will ask our audience to vote on who they think has made the biggest impact on their communities.   The ‘Social Innovation Starts with YOU’ website will have lots of great information and resources for entrepreneurs, including an online toolkit of success stories, advice, and resources.

This process has been a great learning experience for me.  I initially had some beliefs that just did not prove true.  For example, the notion that entrepreneurism was somehow unique to western culture.  In fact, the Arab culture was built on a foundation of entrepreneurship with a rich history in innovation across mathematics, science and social sciences.

We are hopeful that this campaign will help draw attention to the innovation that exists in the region, fund some new enterprises, and ultimately make a positive impact on the lives of Egyptians.

For me, the spirit of entrepreneurism has always intrigued me.  The ability for people to see new solutions to old problems that provide business or social value is what makes our world continue to thrive.

I very much look forward to the reading the many innovative ideas that I’m sure we will receive.

Remember, “Be the change you want to see”, Gandhi

Meg Garlinghouse
Sr. Director, Yahoo! for Good