Laila Hosni

Laila Hosni is the Head of CSR and Sustainable Development at ALEXBANK, the Intesa Sanpaolo group’s subsidiary in Egypt. She is currently tasked with the development of the bank’s multi-faceted approach to sustainable business, community investment and creating shared value. In 2016, she founded the “Ebda3 Men Masr (Inspiration from Egypt)” initiative which has changed the landscape of the Egyptian handicrafts industry and has empowered thousands of craftsmen via financing, training and consultancy. She is also a member of the Federation of Egyptian Banks Sustainability Committee in addition to serving as an advisor to many NGOs and Corporations on how to enhance their community investment programs. As a student, she was an advocate for Egyptian street children, launching several key projects in this field. Laila holds a bachelor’s degree in Humanities and Social Sciences from the American University in Cairo where she specialized in Sociology and Psychology.

II. Paragraph summary
ALEXBANK is among the first financial institutions in Egypt to use the concepts of CSV and responsible business with its various complementing elements. ALEXBANK seeks to create “Shared Value”, by incorporating social issues into its core business strategies to benefit both society and ALEXBANK’s own long-term competitiveness. This new path is governed by the concept of CSV, whereby organizations address relevant societal problems with a business model generating measurable returns. Thereby, CSV helps to generate measurable business returns without ignoring social and environmental challenges. One of ALEXBANK’s main CSR platforms, launched in 2016, is “Ebda3 men Masr” based on the concept of Creating Shared Value. EMM has a significant outreach program implemented through several partnerships focusing mainly on women and youth in Upper Egypt. While preserving a vital part of the Egyptian cultural heritage. This initiative aims to be reason of economic development by providing sustainable income and job creation opportunities, especially amongst youth and women, to increase entrepreneurial opportunities. Since the launch of EMM, 4000 craftsmen and women have benefited directly and 20,00 benefited indirectly from the initiative across Egypt.

In 2017, the CSV unit succeeded in executing its strategic platforms throughout various projects. In collaboration with ‘Educate Me’ NGO and MetLife, the CSV was able to implement a transformational teaching program. Till 2019, the project aims to developing and delivering professional development programs and trainings for teachers working in governmental schools. The project targets 3500 beneficiaries across 150 schools. Likewise, ALEXBANK embarked on a transformational program in partnership with “Takatof foundation” to develop both infrastructural as well as educational and human development programs in Saft el Sharkeya school in Beni Swief – Upper Egypt. Throughout those two years, 450 beneficiaries were privileged, and 2 buildings were built.
ALEXBANK’s Code of Ethics is a governance tool and is part of the wider ALEXBANK’s vision on social and environmental responsibility, laying out those explicit values: Integrity, Excellence, Transparency, Respect for specific qualities, equality, values of individual, responsibility in the use of resources.