New Project ‘Taproot’ Launched by Emirates NBD Egypt and ButtonUp to Support Local Solutions to Climate Change

In collaboration with ButtonUp, Emirates NBD Egypt bank announces the launch of the Taproot project aiming at supporting societal efforts in combatting climate change, which comes as Egypt gears up to host the highly-anticipated COP27 this November.

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The launching of this project resembles the strategic cooperation between Emirates NBD Egypt and ButtonUp to build upon their previous collaboration through the ‘Sewing the Seeds’ project that worked to enhance the vocational skills of women in Izzbet Khairallah, one of the most impoverished areas in Cairo, by helping them to master sewing and embroidery so they can secure a sustainable source of income. The StS project has successfully prepared 100 women to join the labor force and launch their own successful, profitable businesses.

Taproot, on the other hand, provides locally born solutions to mitigate climate change risks and support local communities' environmental, social, and economic resilience by providing training on environmentally friendly industries to women and youth in Izzbet Khairallah.

The project contributes to the capacity building of more than 180 women and youth from Izzbet Kahirallah, empowering them to produce and market high-quality, environmentally friendly products. These products include tires recycling, textile, pottery, and food products.

Taproot strives to achieve its ambitious goals by working on different facets like vocational and commercial training for the beneficiaries in Izzbet Khairallah, conducting environmental awareness sessions, and training the beneficiaries on the basics of marketing and launching their own brands.

The visions of Emirates NBD Egypt and ButtonUp are perfectly aligned when it comes to empowering women and youth in local communities to become active contributors in combatting the negative impacts of climate change.

Against this backdrop, the collaborative effort will work on developing models of businesses that have high economic and commercial viability, with its main aim to elevate the quality of life in local communities as well as improve their financial situation & achieve sustainability, which in turn increases their resilience in the face of shocks and emergencies and ability to withstand the impacts of climate change.

“By launching Taproot with ButtonUp, Emirates NBD Egypt aims to support and empower residents of Ezbet Khairallah to adapt to the impact of climate change in a positive manner,”said Mohamed Berro, CEO of Emirates NBD Egypt.

“We have high hopes for Taproot as we believe that the road ahead to adapting to climate change is a long one that can’t be tackled by only one institution,”added Berro.

“So, we need a sustained, combined effort by businesses and NGOs to achieve success in this battle. Local communities in Egypt constitute the first building block towards building sustainable and effective solutions.”

The new collaboration between Emirates NBD Egypt and ButtonUp comes on the tails of their successful collaboration in 2021, with this year’s project expanding in terms of industries and the number of beneficiaries from Izzbet Khairallah.