THE SEED FOUNDATION: PIONEERING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Today, we hear the word social entrepreneurship used very often. But what exactly does it mean?

Social entrepreneurship refers to the practice of combining innovation, resourcefulness and opportunity to address critical social and environmental challenges facing the world we live in.

For a long time, the best way to help people was to give them things for free. Today, we see a whole new generation of entrepreneurs building sustainable, long-lasting economies around the idea that they can help lift the world’s poor and needy to a higher standard of living.

Lord Neil Benjamin Gibson is one such social entrepreneur, who has helped to promote the term itself, pioneering initiatives that benefit humanity. As a social entrepreneur and investor, Lord Neil focuses on transforming systems and practices that are the root causes of poverty, marginalization and environmental concern.

In so doing, he set up Seed Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation that works towards, amongst several causes, the delivery of an efficient and clean water supply, renewable energy, low cost housing, revitalization of hospitals, as well as, the implementation of additional schooling for the benefit of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s government and its communities, alongside Lord Neil’s other company, SFBBL International Finance. The Foundation aims to assists the government of Saudi Arabia further its economic and environmental stance whilst guiding its people to a heightened place of independence, sustainability and a new sense of prosperity and positive growth.

The world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has an ambitious plan to create 54GW of renewable energy; 9GW of this will be generated by wind, by 2032. However, questions are being raised as to how this new capacity will be assembled and financed. There are real fears that Saudi Arabia's rapidly rising population and electricity consumption, combined with its current dependence on oil and gas-fired power stations, could rapidly deplete the country's oil reserves. As a result, the Kingdom has set out a plan for a future power mix that by 2032 will see less than half of its generating capacity come from hydrocarbons at 60GW, 17.6GW from nuclear and 54GW from renewables.

Saudi Arabia has far reaching ambitions for the renewable energy sector. With domestic demand for power rising steadily, investment in developing energy from renewable sources is critical. Saudi Arabia has achieved significant progress and has taken important steps to reforming the policy and regulatory framework.

SFBBL has been part of renewable energy projects in the past, fully grasping its application and tremendous benefit in addressing and supplying a constant need for consumable energy. SFBBL and the Foundation propose to use wind and solar as the overall make up for renewable energy. The Seed Foundation and SFBBL are committed to enhancing Saudi Arabia‘s renewable energy framework and addressing these historical issues. Additionally, is considering the development of market-based financing mechanisms for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Saudi Arabia.

Driven with the primary objective of creating sustainable systems change though innovation and business know-how and savvy, the Seed Foundation in Lord Neil’s words is an organisation that “thinks like a for-profits and strategically positions itself for growth and scale.” Social entrepreneurs like Lord Neil are drivers of change. Together with institutions, networks and communities, they create solutions that are efficient, sustainable and have a measurable and scalable impact on society.