Patron of The MBI Al Jaber Foundation
Forging Partnerships
The MBI Al Jaber Foundation is a British Registered Charity, and has offices on the 5th Floor, 78 Wigmore Street, London. The Foundation grew out of a scholarship scheme based at the London Middle East Institute (of which MBI Al Jaber was the founding sponsor, providing the Director and Chair of Middle East Studies), and quickly expanded to include programmes at the American Universities of Beirut and Cairo, INSEAD in France and elsewhere.
The project-based part of our work has also increased, and in addition to sponsoring academic conferences and the like we have supported a range of activities from theatre to a Saudi/British arctic expedition! You can read more about these activities on this website. We are governed by a Board of Trustees, of which the Chairman is our Patron Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber. The Trustees are chosen for their areas of expertise in education and/or the Middle East.
Encouraging a greater understanding and awareness
Our focus is on educational and cultural projects, and we concentrate on forging partnerships rather than simply giving grants. Our Chairman, Trustees and Administrator are a resource in themselves, in that they all possess specialist areas of knowledge which are used to assess applications for projects and to reach out to a network of like minded institutions.
In addition to being a grant giving organization, we see ourselves as a hub of knowledge and we strive to create an environment in which we can bring people together in the name of greater understanding and awareness of one another’s cultures.
We have a long-standing scholarship programme, and we encourage outstanding individuals who are committed to making a real difference within their communities, countries or region.
Our Alumni body reaches from Yemen to Morocco and is growing all the time. In addition to running our own extensive scholarship schemes with various elite institutions of Higher Education, we also contribute to others’, for example the Olive Tree Education Trust.