18 March 2015       Download

As a part of the company’s commitment to Africa and bettering the communities in which it does business Qalaa Holdings, an African leader in infrastructure and industry, is sponsoring the 4th annual Luxor African Film Festival, the best short film award and the STEP Program for long feature films

“Making a positive social impact in the communities in which we invest has always been a core value at Qalaa Holdings. By lending our support to an event such as the Luxor African Film festival we will be helping develop both talent and opportunities for hundreds of young African filmmakers,” said Qalaa Holdings Managing Director, Karim Sadek.
In addition to the sponsorship of the Festival, Qalaa Holdings is also sponsoring an award for the best short film and a special workshop (the STEP Program) for long feature films. The event, held 16-21 March in Egypt’s ancient capital, has attracted participants from 41 countries and will include directing and scriptwriting workshops headed by leading African filmmakers.
Qalaa Holdings is also sponsoring the Teaching Thinking in Africa Workshop, as part of its commitment to improving education, leading by example and engaging with friends, partners and acquaintances in order to support the talented future leaders of Africa.
“It is very gratifying for us when major multinational corporations recognize the importance of the arts and are willing to support them,” said Azza El Hosseiny, Executive Director of Luxor African Film Festival. “To that end, we welcome Qalaa Holdings’ sponsorship as it enables us to promote young African filmmakers and help them develop their careers.”
Qalaa Holdings follows a responsible investing approach that is governed by “The Double Bottom Line,” meaning the company prioritizes positive social impact and human capital development as key pillars alongside financial performance. In essence Qalaa Holdings specializes in building businesses across key infrastructure and industry sectors that will help interconnect and grow the economies of the region.
Commenting on the potential of Africa, Sadek who has led Qalaa Holdings’ expansion into Africa said, “A new generation of policymakers have opened the way for more private sector involvement in the economy, a key development which will completely remake the continent and, with it, the global economy. Having said that however, it is also vital that the private sector plays a role in making sure that the growth that Africa will experience is inclusive growth.”
Through its African transportation unit, Rift Valley Railways, the national railway of Kenya and Uganda, which is helping to facilitate intraregional trade, Qalaa Holdings runs a management and skills training program. To date the program has helped to positively impact over 6,000 community members in Kenya with plans to roll out a similar program in Uganda.
Qalaa Holdings also runs Egypt’s largest private sector scholarship program through the Qalaa Holdings Scholarship Foundation, which has thus far awarded over 100 students with scholarships to pursue graduate studies in some of the world’s most prestigious universities on the condition that they return to Egypt after graduation. Scholarship recipients have studied a wide variety of disciplines including filmmaking, anthropology, art and human rights.
Additional Qalaa Holdings initiatives in education and human capital development include: a partnership between the company’s cement unit ASEC Cement and Minya University to promote the exchange of scientific and technical knowledge; a collaboration between its engineering and construction unit; ASEC Engineering and the American University in Cairo for professional training in cement engineering and management; and vocational training programs carried out by the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC), Qalaa Holding’s under construction US$ 3.7 billion refinery in greater Cairo.
“We firmly believe that promoting the arts is one of the best ways to build cultural bridges and discover how much we have in common; one history and one destiny,” said Ghada Hammouda, CMO and Head of Marketing Communications at Qalaa Holdings. “We are also equally committed to the overall improvement of education to ensure that a new generation of leaders is equipped with the proper skillset to compete in the global marketplace.” Added Hammouda.
Qalaa Holdings is an African leader in infrastructure and industry, with business units operating in the energy, cement, agrifoods, transportation & logistics and mining sectors.