 Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Indybio Coco Muneli. I'm a social innovator based in Lagos, Nigeria, and I wear a number of hats as the founder of Leap Africa, co-founder of Sahel Consulting, managing partner of Sahel Consulting, co-founder of Asfoods and Nourishing Africa. Thank you for joining us for what is going to be a very exciting and inspiring conversation with social innovators. You know, it's been an interesting year and many of us have understood and faced personally the human and health toll that this pandemic has had, not just in our communities, our countries, our regions, but our world. And it reminds us that business as usual is not an option in tackling neither this pandemic or its consequences, not for environment, not for the social challenges that we face on a daily basis. I work in the food and agriculture sector. I can tell you that I have learned that food is medicine and that our food ecosystem is so pivotal to any transformation that's required. We as social innovators and as change agents have an opportunity to work together to ensure that we overcome this crisis and we rebuild and shape this world. We need strong healthcare systems, strong social security systems. We need a sustainable relationship with our planet. We need to address the inequities and the injustice in our environment. And more than ever before, we need free press and we need to understand our connectedness as humans and as society. There's a unique opportunity to build back smarter and better, more inclusive societies with a full breadth of experiences and diversity that's required. And I am so honored to have two amazing innovators, entrepreneurs and change agents with us today. Hina West, who is the director of WWF's Global Initiative, Nature Pays and Schwab Foundation Awardee, Helmi Abdulish, who is the Chief Executive Officer of SECEM Initiative in Egypt. Welcome, Hina, and welcome, Helmi. Now, just tell you a bit about Hina. She has a career spanning the private, public and NGO sectors in multiple countries. As I mentioned, she's currently leading WWF's Nature Pays hub, which is creating market opportunities for enterprises within WWF's conservation programming globally. And she'll tell us a bit more about herself as we progress. And Helmi is part of SECEM, which was founded in 1977 with a great vision from the founder, Ibrahim Abdulish, an Egyptian pharmacologist, and they're doing amazing work in a range of sectors. So without wasting any more time, I'm delighted to welcome Hina and Helmi. They both have names that rhyme in some way, and they're just amazing entrepreneurs. So let's start with Hina. Hina, just tell us a bit about your work and your approach to 2020. Wow, thank you, Ndidi. That was an amazing introduction. I feel like you've covered off everything I might be able to say. So well done. So really pleased to be here. I'm Hina West, and as Ndidi mentioned, I work for WWF within our global markets practice. And I specifically lead in our work with driving forward and accelerating community enterprise within our conservation work. And that era of work is called nature pays. So within that, I feel like what I'm trying to do within WWF is drive forward a social development agenda within a environmental organisation. So you have to be able to be resilient and be able to find those allies within the organisation because what I feel I'm trying to do is not the norm when it comes to conservation work. So that's kind of I think why I've been brought into this discussion. And then also just WWF has just joined the COVID response alliance for social entrepreneurs that we've have pulled together. So we have taken taken a role in more about nature within how we support social entrepreneurs who are at the front line of dealing with the COVID crisis. So that's an exciting new chapter for our work. I'll let Helmi come in now because we've only got 30 minutes. Yes, thank you so much. Helmi, just tell us a bit about your work. I know you're sitting in Egypt at the moment, but just tell us a bit about yourself and your work. Yeah, thank you for the very nice introduction. And I'm happy to share and join here. And just quickly, I can tell you that I am very lucky that the last 43 years since my father established Sakem, I was able to see a real miracle unfolding here in the desert in Egypt in Sakem. And it all started with a crazy idea, his crazy idea in 1977 to set up a sustainable community in the desert where people learn, live and work together based on organic farming, based on what he called economy of love, based on real community support and community development, and based on unfolding potential of every individual in the community. And also it seems then that this is a totally crazy idea and mission impossible. Today, it turns out to be a real story. 2000 people are living and working and learning together that Sakem, thousands of farmers all over Egypt grow organic and biodynamic food and thousands of kids go to our schools, more than 2,700 students to our university for sustainable development and millions of Egyptian consumers consume organic food from Sakem. So we are very happy that they could prove that this crazy ideas work. And the last year, the year of the Corona has really proven that this intentional community is also providing solutions which are more resilient, which can really show us the way forward. And also our thoughts and prayers are with those who suffer. We could sustain all these challenges and work now on providing solutions to our fellow Egyptians, showing them the way after the Corona crisis. Thanks for so much. Tell me, I mean, you told us when you started this day that it's all about inspiration and your work and your father's work is so inspiring. And the foresight that he had 1977 is remarkable. We'll come back to hear more about that. Let me go back to him. And so, you know, you have been at the forefront of this nexus between climate and society. And COVID-19 has reinforced how critical this nexus is. What have you learned from this year? What are some key lessons and insights that social entrepreneurs and innovators listening in can take this experience? Yeah, and just some personal insight which helped, I think, frames this. So before I joined WWF, I worked for Oxfam for many years in the field, specifically around water sanitation and hygiene work and food security. And so I've come from a social development background. And also I've come from a kind of mixed heritage as well. And I've had the privilege to travel and meet lots of different walks of life. So I feel like a global citizen. And so I am trying as an individual to try to drive as much change globally through my own personal professional way. But this last year has really, well, it's been tough to say the least. But the way that WWF is trying to drive forward is to at least try to flip this on its head and really take the opportunity to recognise that human, animal and environmental health are intimately interconnected. And we really do need to reset our relationship with nature and work out how we as individuals and as communities can support each other. And going back to Helmi's point about it's about the love. It really is. I don't want to, you know, be too like a hippie about this. But actually, we are all here. We share this planet. We do need to kind of take this opportunity for grass roots revolution and really believe in what it is we're trying to do. And for those change makers out there, this is your opportunity to unite with other change makers and affect change. We only have a short window to fill that change before the new norm sets in. So we're predicting about two or three years before we go back to some of our old habits. But we have a short window to get together and really affect that change. And, you know, and not just because I work for WWF, but we do really need to think about socioeconomic and environmental impact of ourselves as individuals, then also as our organisations, however big and small your business. So on a micro level, you've seen the upsurge in rewilding gardens and thinking more about, you know, harvesting and of course, Helmi will be able to talk more about that and just being not doing this for decades now. But the individual is actually getting this idea now. And then also the micro level thinking about how we invest in sustainable kind of stimulus with the government. So that's where WWF comes in. And Nature Pays is about that bottom up approach, but also that top down approach. And yes, I think probably I'll just stop, stop there. And see, yeah. Can I can I just follow up with a question? Of course, yes. So one of the key challenges with businesses, that they understand that climate is real, at least many entrepreneurs, but as they struggle through the short term returns and the demand from their shareholders, it's tough to make that argument and make the investments required. So what what message is Nature Pays conveying or what what what what is different about this time? How can we transmit that to not only strategy, but also financial investments to drive the transformation required? So when you drill down onto any, any area of commerce or business or finance, there is a root in nature with which it is grown from. So you know, if you breathe, if you need to eat, you know, indeed, you talked about the food systems earlier, that's one of the biggest, biggest areas which we could work on to drive real sustainability. And when I say food as well, I also include aquaculture there as well. So agriculture and aquaculture. If you need to, you need to build, if you need to drive somewhere, if you need to, you need to do anything, nature has has a role in it. And if once nature is gone, there's no way that it can come back. So actually, if you invest in keeping it now, that's longer term, that means that you will be sustainable into the future. We, there's no way to come back from this. And and that, you know, the short term is viewers, you know, the short profit now, a unsustainable growth model, you know, that won't work longer term. And within our lifetime, we are already seeing an impact on what's happening. So just really drill it home. There's a fact which I keep coming back to is that we have had two zoonotic disease outbreaks every year for the last century. So if you just think about that, who's zoonotic disease outbreaks every year for the last century. And what you know, COVID has really shown what it's going to be like in the future. So we can't just wait until it sorts itself out, we need to work at how we can build that resilience, individually and as a global community. So yeah, so we really need to understand that nature is not just about, you know, our homes or where we live, but it's about everything to do with our lives with business, with who we're about. And yeah, without it, we, we will have no, we will have no commerce, we will have no growth, we will have no food system, we will have no, so yeah, it then, yeah. And of course, you know, the world which those that are suffering the most of those that have the least. And that for me is just mind boggling, isn't it? We know this is the case. Climate change as well is, this is a, this is a really a dress rehearsal for the full impact of climate change. This is giving us a test. And this, we need to get through this test to prove that we can make it through the other end. And at the moment, we're not quite there. And there's a long way to go. Thank you. Thank you for that sense of urgency. This is a test and we are failing at this. So help me, you have been at the forefront of driving change in Egypt. What has COVID-19 taught you? And what are we going to do differently? How can we propel a transformation that you've been pushing? Look, we in we in check and we are convinced that Mother Earth will not keep us going on as we are over the last decades. We believe that change and system change must come. And there are two ways forward. Basically, the one is via crisis. And I hope we can avoid this path. And the other one is via wisdom and understanding and real care for the other care for for the planet. And I think that this wake up call of the Corona crisis has actually given us a boost. I think that it will enable us to move forward faster. More and more people all over the world now connect the health of the planet to the to the health of people. More and more people are using organic products, 30% more organic products this year than the year before, because people connect organic products to health and resilience and immunity. And more and more people will accept that we will have to change dramatically, starting from farming, from agriculture, to the way we deal with each other, to the way we consume products. And we cannot go on externalizing course to next generations. We cannot go on depleting resources, which will not be available for the next generations. Now, in our concrete case, this means that we are now convinced that instead of needing another 20 to 40 years to convince the world to go organic and more sustainable agriculture, we see signs that this will go on much, much faster. Nowadays, and for the first time since 43 years, we are now in the communication with our farmers in Egypt, and we have 7 million of them going to a next level. We are not speaking about go to organic agriculture because it's better for the world and it's better for the health and it's this and this, but it's more expensive, take care. No, we can prove now that organic is also cheaper. It's more efficient, it's better, and it's cheaper. We have now, by connecting the dots, being able to prove that in Egypt, for an ordinary farmer, it works out to improve his livelihood, to go organic, produce better products, contribute positively to climate change and provide healthy products to the consumers in Egypt. So everything we do now is very much focusing on educating farmers, educating the engineers and the universities, educating our consumers that the way forward must go via more sustainable agricultural production, more sustainable food, more sustainable consuming. And I'm actually very, very optimistic because in reality, we can also prove today that our way of fertilizing our soils is not only better, but it's also resilient and cheaper. Our way of dealing with energy, which we use less of because we are in organic farming and use renewable energy sources is cheaper. We can reduce the cost for our farmers, 35% in comparison to conventional farmers. And this gives them an edge, which even at the same price than conventional products will improve their incomes and livelihoods. So I think we are on the right path and now it's all about capacity building, education, communication so that people can follow this path. And we will see a dramatic change over a few years to come. Thank you so much, Helmi. I mean, one thing you've proven is that you can scale and you can scale a social change, which is often so difficult for other innovators. Can you just tell us briefly what are the two or one or two secrets to your success around scale? How have you scaled so quickly? I mean, millions of farmers and proving that organic food is actually cheaper and affordable, which is a breakthrough. I think it is the focus on trying to improve the processes of farming as we have learned them for thousands of years here in Egypt along the Nile and re-focusing our farmers on what they have learned on caring for soils. The soil is the actual asset of our farmers. And when they care for their soils, when they improve the quality of their soils, when they integrate organic matter, sequester carbon, they not only stop climate change, but they also improve their fertility and productivity. And over the years, we were able to prove this for all the crops in Egypt, in small scale, in bigger scales, in ever bigger scales. And today, when we go to a farmer, we do not start with the philosophy of organic farming. We just tell him, show us what products you want to do. How do you do them at the moment? Let's test together on a small scale, the new methodology of organic and biodynamic farming, and it will make you successful and better off. And it works. And the idea that we are more expensive, we know for decades, and Hina knows this better than the way we have seen a lot of studies on this, that the true cost accounting already tells us in 20, 30 years that organic farming is cheaper than a conventional, but because of externalised costs did not show. Now our government in Egypt cannot afford to subsidise chemical fertilisers, energy and water and so on any longer. And now, at even place fields, we are proving that we are more efficient. That's fantastic. I want to come and visit your operation, because I want to take this to Nigeria and to the rest of Africa. Hina, as we start round... You're most welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Hina, as we start rounding up, you know, this has been a year of learning and growth for so many of us. And I'm sure those who are listening and I am eager to hear from you. What advice would you give for innovators who want to transform the ecosystem and who wants to lead this change effort? What practical advice would you give? Yeah. And also, Hermie, I hope that invite you to your farm farms include me as well. It's going to be a while before I can travel again. Yes. I'd love to come. So I think the advice for innovators is really what I would advise anyone as an individual right now. It's I've frozen, but hopefully you can hear me. Indeed, he's frozen. Can you still hear me? OK, good. So I think resilience is the bit of a buzzword that's going around right now. But I do think having really strong personal resilience and belief in yourself that what you're doing is the right thing is so critical. There are so many people right now who are panicking or thinking that we can't make change or they have issues with their home life and their work and everything. And you know, they're losing investment, but actually keep on going because what you're doing is so important. And and we are all in it together. And I think even finding that that community that you have, be it being closer to your family or being closer to your local community, find other innovators, changemakers, other, you know, working mothers, other, you know, find what you need to help you stay strong and also believe in yourself and to remember that. Remember that there will be there will be positivity out of this. There will be if you believe it, it will come. Yeah, I think that would be my main piece of advice. Thank you so much, Hina. And and help me. What about you? What advice would you give me? Oh, the first one is, and I'm going along with Hina to believe that you and it's in our hands in your hands, in my hands, in our hands, how the future is going to look like. Do not wait for others. Do not believe that it needs government. So I don't know who to make it, but we can shape it in 43 years. We have shaped with our own hands without support of anyone and miracle in the desert. And when we can do it, everyone can do it. When we can do it in Egypt, everyone can do it in Nigeria and any other country of the world believe that there is no mission impossible. And we are very lucky in Africa, you know this, indeed, that we have Nelson Mandela, who once said, it always looks impossible until it's done. So there is no mission impossible when you believe in yourself and in your ability to do it. And a second small advice is prototype, prototype, prototype, do it, just always do it, improve it and accept that there will be failures on the way. But on with passion and love and you believe in yourself and the ability to do new things every day, reinvent yourself, do new things, you will come to the to the vision you envision for the world. The vision is coming from the future towards us. It's not only we go there and enable yourself to see this vision, believe in it and you will reach it. Thank you so much. Tell me. And there was a question that came in on the chat and I wanted to follow up with that as your closing remarks. Tell me, how can we scale love and solidarity? You started us off with love. How do we scale love and solidarity around the world? And the great ideas? How do we prototype to that? Second, how do we scale? One minute, please. I can tell you, come and visit us and see and watch by yourself that an economy of love is more competitive, more efficient, more productive and more profitable than the economy of war. And in second, we are competing at the moment with multinationalists in the local market and we are market leaders. So economy of love is not only about kissing and hugging. Economy of love is about with real care for the planet, for the people, for the consumer, for the farmer. You can do miracles and you can be very, very efficient. So believe in this and if you do still meet, you are always, everyone is very welcome to come and visit and see it with your own eyes. It works. Thank you so much. I want to thank Hina and Helmi. You know, this has been a phenomenal discussion too short because we have so much to learn from each of you. But what am I taking away? I'm taking away a few things. I think Hina has reinforced how critical intersectionality between climate and businesses and how each of us should become climate champions through the way we run our companies, through the way we live our lives, to ensure that we protect our society, protect our economies, but also protect our future. This concept that COVID-19 is just one shock, but climate change is the real short and this is just a test and we're failing. So if we don't take urgent steps and actions, we will not have future as humanity. So thank you Hina and Helmi through your work and through your life and through the phenomenal impact of second we're seeing what it takes to scale, engaging with farmers, creating prototypes that work and enabling impact at a large level. I mean millions of lives being changed. I think both of you have inspired us this morning to think about the impossible, to rise up to the challenge and to embrace this challenge as social innovators and implementers. I'm going to end with my favorite quote and this became my quote in 2020. It's a Tibetan quote which says, if I tell you my dream, you might forget if I act on my dream, perhaps you will remember it. But if I involve you, it becomes your dream too. I think this is the mantra that second half and WTF have because you've involved farmers, you've involved entrepreneurs, you've involved the entire ecosystem into your dream. And this is where we end with how we scale love. We scale love by involving others in our dream as social innovators. We scale impact by involving others in our dream. And I hope that today you've been inspired to think bigger thoughts, push boundaries, engage with others and partner across borders. And yes, we're all going to Egypt soon. So please believe that it's possible and we will see it in our lifetime. Thank you all for joining us today. And God bless you all. Any final comments from my from Pina? Any final comments? We have two more minutes. And what a way to start Friday. Just thank you, everyone. Yeah. Reach out to me if you if you want to as well, you'll be able to get my details and look forward to collaborating with you moving forward. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank all of you who participated. I'm really looking forward to interact and to share our dreams and to move on them together. And I'm sure when we meet next time, we celebrate success stories. Wonderful. Thanks again to our participants. Thank you to the fantastic web team for putting this together. And thank you to all of you for listening in. Wishing you a fantastic Friday and a great weekend ahead. We will build back better and we will come through stronger because social innovators like Hema and Helmi exist and because together we can amplify our voices and effect change. Enjoy the rest of your session. God bless you all.