Muna Al Gurg has become the latest Emirati to join the prestigious Giving Pledge, a campaign instigated by US philanthropists Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Melinda French Gates to encourage wealthy people to give away the majority of their fortunes to charity.
The vice-chair and director of retail at Dubai’s Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group, Muna has long been active in her family’s Al Gurg Charitable Foundation. Last year, she launched her own philanthropic initiative, Meem Foundation, to bridge gender gaps, create more economic opportunity, and greater access to both the workplace and health care for women and girls in the MENA region.
Meem Foundation supports a range of programmes including scholarships for women at the London Business School and it provides funding for Ureed.com to train women in the Northern Emirates in artificial intelligence and data annotation, in partnership with the UAE government.
“Our vision is a world where all women and girls can achieve their ambitions,” Muna said in an interview with Circle’s podcast, Shaping Philanthropy. “Our goal is to find innovative, entrepreneurial approaches to address the unique challenges faced by women and girls in the region.”
