Egypt Rising!

Why blog on a topic that does not fit my regular flow of career information and tips? Simple: Friday night, I attended a historic event at Stanford where Wael Ghonim, the Google executive in the Middle East region, who was one of the leaders instrumental in igniting a successful revolt against a repressive regime early this year with his Facebook postings, was speaking! The standing-room-only event was sponsored by TechWadi, a Silicon Valley based NGO spearheading a noble effort in that entire region, Building Bridges to Accelerate Entrepreneurship (its tagline)!

What was noteworthy about the evening was that, not just what Wael Ghonim had to say about the region’s—specifically Egypt’s—plight and challenges following the overthrow of its decades-long nightmarish regime, but the kind of event that it was: It also attracted people who came from that entire region—Syria, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Lebanon, and almost all parts of North Africa rallying around the cause that Wael and millions of others spearheaded after being inspired by the Tunisian revolution.

This Tunisian revolution was galvanized by one young fruit vendor, who set himself ablaze in a single act of frustration, defiance, and martyrdom. At the last night’s event those in the audience were asking questions about their own liberation from tyrannical governments that rule their motherlands with iron fists, and many appeared willing to make similar sacrifices to sustain the revolution and to topple their regimes. Women from that region not only came, but also participated openly and enthusiastically in the discussions following his talk. In fact, the entire event was organized and chaired by a Stanford woman from that region. The very spirit of that event was a counterpoint to what you typically read about of such events, as they are reported in the media. It was an experience to remember!

The Chairman of TechWadi, Dr. Ossama Hassanein, who had organized the event along with Stanford Muslim Student Awareness Network, spoke briefly about Egypt’s—and the region’s—challenges. Education, entrepreneurship, jobs, healthcare, and the development of that region were his main points of focus.

Now, what can each of us do to participate in this historic inflection point for that entire region, and replicate the same around the world, especially, in places each of us cares about the most? Plenty: Both Wael Ghonim and Dr. Hassanein asked the audience to do the following—and this prescription applies to any such geography, place, or cause—and I am repeating their pleas in this blog:

1.     Do not believe in all news items, especially those on the Internet about what is really happening in that geography. Trust only sources you know are reliable and then verify what they say. In the fog of revolution, there is much misinformation out there, and people are fomenting tensions with their own agendas.

2.     Pick a cause such as helping in the One Notebook Per Child, which is sponsored by many US organizations, such as Intel, and contribute money, time, and resources to such causes.

3.     Help out a budding entrepreneur in that region by listening to their pitch, mentoring them, sharing your expertise, and if you can, provide seed money to their venture. One single dollar goes much further than we realize, especially in that region. Our experience and time can do a lot more.

4.     Travel to Egypt and help the tourism industry, which now has nearly two million unemployed workers as a result of bad publicity fallout from the government’s overthrow. Both Wael and Dr. Ossama were assuring the crowd that Egypt is now safe to travel in most areas. The areas that are still not safe were so even before the revolution.

5.     Visit Wael’s Facebook page and see if you can Sign-up as a volunteer and donate what you can, including your time. Visit bit.ly/egyptv and sign-up as a volunteer or donor.

6.     Education and development of people in that region, especially children and women, is going to be a major priority to help get countries in that region on their feet faster. So, volunteer as a mentor and connect with someone in that region to help them grow.

Living in the US and in other peaceful, developed parts of the world we really do not appreciate the plight of those caught in revolutions like these.  We must do anything we can to help our fellow human kind, anywhere, not just in this region, and to lift us all to achieve what we are all destined to achieve! In a politically turbulent region stay away from any political groups or from supporting them; support individuals or communities that are deserving of this support, instead. You really do not know any political organization’s real agenda until things settle down.  In a flat world that we live in, one region’s well-being and prosperity are directly linked to the prosperity and well-being of every other region in our highly interconnected world. So, learn to share and give what you have to lift us all up through our life’s struggles!