Sawiris Foundation hosted a team of six students from Harvard Business School in Cairo for one week as part of FIELD Global Capstone. Sawiris Foundation was one of 156 FIELD Global Capstone Project Partners spanning 14 cities across 14 countries. Together, Partners combined to host more than 900 Harvard Business School students in all.
The FIELD Global Capstone is a course designed to strengthen and develop students’ ability to manage and operate effectively in a variety of business contexts. Sawiris Foundation’s capacity building team worked with the team remotely in the months leading up to their arrival. While in Cairo at Sawiris Foundation’s head office, the students pitched their ideas to the leadership team, conducted field research with beneficiries around the city, and presented their final recommendations to management. The Foundation’s Executive Director, Laila Hosny, and Deputy Executive Director, Mays Abou Hegab, both attended the final presentation phase, engaging directly with the students’ recommendations.
The purpose of this immersive experience is to provide students with the opportunity to ‘learn by doing’ through the challenge of introducing a new product, service, or customer experience for their partner organization. This required students to also focus on building contextual intelligence and team effectiveness skills while delivering value in an unfamiliar context.
This collaboration reflects Sawiris Foundation ’s continued commitment to advancing experiential civic learning, fostering global knowledge exchange, and strengthening institutional capacities within Egypt’s civil society sector. It also builds on the Foundation’s broader efforts under its Capacity Building of Egyptian Non-Governmental Organizations Project, which includes key milestones such as the “First Egyptian Civil Society Forum,” which was held last April under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Solidarity, as well as the establishment of five civic training centers and the subsequent training of 2,203 development workers, approximately 62% of whom are women, strengthening their technical capacities and enhancing their active participation in community development efforts.
In this context, Ms. Laila Hosny, Executive Director of Sawiris Foundation, stated: “We were very pleased to host the Harvard Business School students in Cairo and introduce them to the work being led by Egyptian civil society organizations on the ground. Experiences like this are important because they create space for real exchange, where students can engage directly with local communities, better understand different development realities, and learn from the people and organizations working to address them every day.” She added: “For 25 years, Sawiris Foundation has believed in the importance of investing in people, ideas, and partnerships that create lasting impact. Collaborations with institutions such as Harvard Business School reflect our commitment to learning, knowledge exchange, and connecting global perspectives with local experience.”
Harvard Business School also emphasized the important role played by FIELD Global Capstone Project Partners in making this experiential learning opportunity possible for students.
“We are extremely grateful to Sawiris Foundation and all the FIELD Global Capstone Project Partner organizations for all they do on behalf of our students,” said Professor Joe Fuller, Faculty Chair for the FIELD Global Capstone. “The students benefit immeasurably from this experience, and we hope the partner organizations do as well.”
Engaging with global academic institutions such as Harvard Business School is part of Sawiris Foundation’s broader commitment to promoting innovation, shared learning, and cross-cultural collaboration in support of inclusive and sustainable development in Egypt.
