Pondering the word, I began to wonder what the legacy of our present Arab moguls will be. Our region has plenty of money – between oil, royal wealth, entrepreneurs, and business tycoons – we’ve got more than a few moguls of our own. All over the MENA region, individual billionaires have established socially conscious foundations. Saudi Arabia’s Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber and Lebanon’s Hariri family have concentrated on furthering education. Egypt’s Sawaris family fund an assortment of social development projects, as does Miloud Chaabi in Morocco. And these are just a few examples of some of our biggest non-royal moguls.
Though individuals have been exemplary in their socially charitable contributions, it’s more difficult to find substantial or sustained philanthropy from celebrities and social entrepreneurs. A Google search turned up evidence of a smattering of donations to assorted charities and attendances at fundraising galas by the likes of Azza Fahmy, Ragheb Alama and Amr Diab but when I googled ‘Haifa Wehbe Foundation’, for example, all that turned up were a number of responses explaining the kinds of make-up products the singer uses to achieve her luminescent skin. No joke. Meanwhile, a search for Nancy Ajram turned up mentions of her charity work as well as news about the establishment of her own charity in Lebanon, but search as I might, I could not find a website for it. For those interested, it’s called ‘Jam'iyat Nancy Ajram Al-Khayria’.
When I did searches on foreign figures though, things were different. Searches about Oprah, Madonna and Bono immediately turned up links to their charitable foundations and sometimes even revealed the specific amounts they have given to other organisations. Nor has all their philanthropy been financial. For better or for worse, George Clooney has become a major spokesman on Darfur and co-established an awareness-raising project about the region and its problems that has been publicised like crazy. Love him or hate him, Kanye West has been extremely active in targeting at-risk youth in America. There seemed to be a disparity between transparency in philanthropy among the famous in the Arab world and abroad.
I don’t doubt for a minute that wealthy celebrities and social entrepreneurs around the Arab world are active in charity. But where do we find what they do? Where is the transparency? Elsewhere, philanthropy is seen as an asset to a person or company, increasing their profile and popularity. Arab moguls publicise their philanthropic activities and make them known but why hasn’t this transparent, public, and sustained approach to philanthropy spread beyond them? Does our society now only look to the moguls for charity? What about the multi-millionaires? Or companies? How much do we, as a society, value helping those in need or contributing to other worthwhile causes?
Sadly, what this says to me is that philanthropy has yet to break into popular culture. It happens but it isn’t considered “cool” enough to be publicised. It’s not for lack of need for development and improved quality of life – there’s certainly enough of that. This century our region has been plagued by war, poverty and staggering underdevelopment. There is a need for individuals to step in and help improve lives.
Fortunately, we do have some leading individuals who give generously but their limited numbers and the lack of transparency on the part of many of those who do give – modesty is often cited as the reason – is frustrating. Greater publicity would inspire others, whether moguls, millionaires or ordinary people, to take action by alerting them to where and how they could be involved in causes that interest them. Maybe our modern moguls need to be more vocal about who, where and why they give. Our region still has plenty to change.
