“The joy that I feel every morning, the enthusiasm for my work, the boundless love which fills my heart for all around me, brings forth a vision of the community: a community in which people of all nations and cultures work and learn in peace, and resonate together in harmony as a symphony; ..." -- Dr. Ibrahim Aboulesh of SEKEM Egypt.
SEKEM Group is known for its endurance over decades. Since the inception of the first company in the group in 1977, 9 other organizations have been formed -- for-profit companies (including a packaging company and a seedling supplier) and a foundation under which kindergarten, primary and secondary education is provided (mainly for the blue-collar employees' children).
Dr. Aboulesh began his work by starting an organic farming movement because he saw a destructive pesticide-driven food industry in Egypt. Then he found his way to founding other ventures, and I suspect, these ventures were intended to recreate a brand new, sustainable supply chain with optimal efficiency and prospects for job creation. Creating a community, as he claimed.
This is what brave visionaries do. Start with something small and address opportunities and loopholes in the market incrementally. This kind of movement is what I have learned to admire, admittedly instead of those doing one thing and one thing only (especially without forming partnerships with others).
Dr. Aboulesh spent 21 years in Austria and then he packed his bags and moved his family to Egypt. Though he was not completely a no-one (knowing the former president Anwar Sadat when growing up in Egypt), he knew nothing about farming. His work was joy as he was solving a monstrous puzzle of the economic frailty and inequality in Egypt.
And as I continue on taking small steps for Sarjana, hunting down prospective partners and cheerleaders of Sarjana, coming up with initiatives .... And on, and on, and on .... And staying cost-efficient, nimble, and really, brave. The complexity of problems around higher education in Indonesia for too many decades has been producing, mostly, the kind of graduates that is not employment-ready, unable to think critically and creatively. The egos, inefficiencies and lack of vision is what makes me get up in the morning to scheme new ways, partnerships and projects for Sarjana, knowing that some will fail. There is not yet a harmony in Sarjana, but it is like what you hear a 2-year-old singing along to songs he hears on the computer -- it can be a viral video on Youtube and people get on board. Nonetheless, the complexity in its growing operations is like a symphony; there is a small orchestra behind it that creates and molds tunes everyday.
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