Procter & Gamble (P&G), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and IBM cooperated in an initiative promoting corporate social responsibility and launched Sharek.org, the first website of its kind in Egypt that matches volunteering needs of civil society institutions with employee volunteers. Sharek.org was launched on Sunday at the American Chamber of Commerce's conference titled "Unleashing the potential of the private sector in developing Egypt". Shereen Mady, Sharek's project manager, stated that the initiative helps Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), start ups and student activities to employ volunteers. External relations manager at P&G Ramez Farag, corporate responsibility manager at PwC Ayman Shehata and corporate citizenship manager at IBM Egypt Mona Arishi have seen the initiative through for three years. Social media branding start up Social Fruits also cooperated in the initiative. The initiative was incubated under Nahdet el Mahrousa organisation, the first incubator of early stage innovative social enterprises in the Middle East. The initiative is in partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce, Egyptian Junior Business Association (EJB) and Egyptian Businessmen Association (EBA) along with the United National Volunteers (UNV). So far, 16 civil organisations, 11 companies, 160 volunteers have registered at Sharek.org. The initiative has helped to create and promote 250 volunteer opportunities.
