At the invitation of the SEKEM Initiative's Future Council, we've been bringing our Mindful Leadership Journey to Egypt since February 2024. What began as a first cohort with 25 SEKEM Visionaries has grown into something bigger: the founding of a Mindful Leadership Center at Heliopolis University in Cairo.
What Is SEKEM?
SEKEM was founded in 1977 by Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish on desert land near Cairo — with a vision of sustainable development as a holistic way of life. From 70 hectares of desert grew an integrated ecosystem of biodynamic agriculture, social enterprises, and educational institutions. Since 2012, Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development has carried this vision into research and teaching.
Under Helmy Abouleish's leadership, SEKEM is now pursuing an ambitious goal with its "Vision 2057": connecting ecological agriculture, economic viability, and holistic education into a model that reaches beyond Egypt. One key innovation: compensating farmers through carbon credits, since biodynamic farming actively sequesters CO₂ — an approach that can be replicated worldwide.
Our Work on the Ground
This is the context we bring Deep Democracy and social-emotional learning into. Our goal is to empower leaders to work productively with tension, integrate diverse perspectives, and weave ecological and social goals into business decisions. Leadership not as an individual power tool, but as a service-oriented, community-building capacity.
With the founding of the Mindful Leadership Center, we've now launched three new groups: a group of teachers, a group of emerging leaders, and a group of experienced leaders from across SEKEM's organizations. Wonderful people with tremendous potential — many already carrying significant responsibility.
Christiane also led a one-day mindfulness workshop for women leaders from a health initiative serving the 13 villages around the SEKEM farm. Strong personalities who — with or without formal education — are doing remarkable work empowering women in self-care.
What's Next
Our visit was rounded out by a reunion with the participants of our first Leadership Journey — the Visionaries. We were thrilled to see how our impulse toward shared responsibility for the SEKEM vision has borne fruit. We'll continue to walk alongside them — and learn from them about SEKEM as a community built around unlocking individual potential.
On April 14, we travel to Egypt for the follow-up workshops.
