Qalaa Holdings subsidiary the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC) awards scholarships to 23 students this year to open doors for those pursuing higher education and press on with its commitment to improving the quality of education throughout the country.
The Egyptian Refining Company (ERC), Qalaa Holdings’ c.US$ 4.3 billion greenfield refinery in the Greater Cairo Area of Mostorod, announced today the recipients of its third annual round of scholarships, bringing the total number of scholarships awarded thus far to 53. The 2018 scholars were announced at a ceremony attended by leaders at the forefront of business, NGOs, and representatives from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Solidarity and Ministry of Petroleum. This year’s 23 scholarship recipients will pursue undergraduate degrees in various specialties at some of Egypt’s most prestigious public and private universities such as the Zewail University of Science and Technology, the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, Nile University, and Ain Shams University.
“At Qalaa Holdings, we firmly believe that education is the very foundation of a sustainable development program. At this stage of Egypt’s development, a sound educational structure is crucial to furthering the country’s goals. By providing funding for Egypt’s youth to gain access to high quality education, we’re doing our part to contribute positively to Egypt’s growth story,” said Qalaa Chairman and Founder Dr. Ahmed Heikal. “In context of the national drive to reform our education system, we are honored to present Mostakbaly for Teachers and Students as just one of the many ways we foster economic growth and social transformation.”
ERC is highly active in the field of educational development, with programs in place for school refurbishments, teacher capacity building, in addition to support for students. Since its launch in 2017, the Mostakbaly program has provided 5,092 students with in-kind aid and 887 teachers with educational training. Two students pursuing master’s degrees at the universities of Sheffield and Imperial in the United Kingdom have also been sponsored by the program.
Since 2017, the Mostakbaly Teachers’ Scholarships program has granted 60 local kindergarten and primary school teachers the opportunity to enroll in AUC’s “Teaching Early Learners” (CELE) program, a professional educator diploma designed specifically for teaching young children in the classroom, at home, and within the community.
In addition to Mostakbaly, ERC runs other educational support programs, where it has successfully upgraded 40 public schools in Mostorod to the benefit of over 100,000 students.
“ERC aims not only to be transformative for Egypt both economically and environmentally, but also socially,” said Dr. Mohammed Saad, ERC’s Managing Director. “We hope to transform the community in which we do business through a dynamic corporate social responsibility strategy that includes several planks, Mostakbaly being central to them. We are working closely with Egypt’s Ministry of Education and the Qalyoubia and Cairo governorates to ensure the program continues its sustainable success, both for teachers and students.”
“ERC conducted the most comprehensive Environmental Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) study ever commissioned in Egypt,” said Engineer El-Sayed El-Shinawi, head of ERC’s Community Development Office. “Based on this assessment, we have focused on four main areas to develop the Mostorod community, namely: its educational support program “Mostakbaly”; economic opportunity and income raising programs “Tamkeen” and “Mashrouy”; youth volunteering and capacity building program “Reyada”; and special needs support program “Takaful”.”
The company runs diverse programs that empower women and youth in their community. Through “Mashrouy” and “Tamkeen”, it has sponsored 173 small projects for youth and women, in addition to launching four employment centers that link 30,000 local youths to the job market.
“ERC is a truly holistic endeavor, delivering on all aspects of sustainability. Economically, it acts as a vital import substitute play; environmentally, it will drastically reduce sulfur and CO2 emissions; and socially it has developed a vast network of capacity building and community development activities that have become vital to the communities surrounding the project,” said Ghada Hammouda, Qalaa’s Chief Marketing Officer. “With ERC expected to become operational within the coming months, we’re committed to continue mapping and addressing the needs of our local community, and we encourage all our subsidiaries to do the same.”
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The Egyptian Refining Company is building a state-of-the-art US$ c.4.3 billion greenfield oil refinery in the Greater Cairo Area, which will produce over 4.7 million tons of refined products per annum, including over 3 million tons of jet fuel and Euro V diesel, the cleanest fuel of its type in the world. ERC’s production will be sold to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) under a 25-year offtake agreement at international prices.
Qalaa Holdings (CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Stock Exchange) is an African leader in energy and infrastructure. Formerly known as Citadel Capital, Qalaa Holdings controls subsidiaries in core industries including Energy, Cement, Transportation & Logistics, and Mining. To learn more, please visit qalaaholdings.com.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Ghada Hammouda
Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer
Qalaa Holdings (S.A.E.)
Tel: +20 2 2791-4439
Fax: +20 22 791-4448
Mobile: +20 106 662-0002
Twitter: @qalaaholdings