Jordan faces an increasing divide between its capital, Amman, and its outlying cities, and, within Amman, fragmentation between its crowded eastern inner city and wealthy western enclaves. It also works to preserve communities, documenting the stories of Jordanian communities through writing, photography, filmmaking, blogs and social media. Finally, Hamzet Wasel cultivates future changemakers by advising and investing in other social ventures. As a for-profit business working both as a community organizer and an investment and advisory vehicle, Hamzet Wasel has shown that a social venture can adopt a holistic approach to social change.
Despite its current success, however, creating a business model for a social venture was not always easy for founder Raghda Butros. We asked Raghda about her experience building Hamzet Wasel from the ground up. After working in development for 14 years, I decided to experiment with new funding models for social development in the region.
The decision to create a for-profit social venture, rather than establish a non-profit, came as a result of several factors. Having worked with both donor funding and private sector funding, I concluded that generating my own funding - with no strings attached — would be the most effective way to work.
My decision was also influenced by my concerns about Jordan's non-profit association law, which now hinders the independence of non-profits. I thought incorporating as a business would be more effective. Our customer base is all of the above; Jordanians as well as regional and international visitors participate in our activities. This trend is set to grow over the next year, as we launch events in Dubai and Beirut. Our main strength, however, is our local focus and deep connection with the communities where we work.
How do you plan to grow? We plan to grow by expanding our outreach in and beyond Jordan. At each stage, we expand by focusing on our prior achievements and conducting pilot projects to determine the best model for our next phase.
