Meet Sahar, the Arab-American philanthropist who could win $1m

posted on: Jun 13, 2015

Meet Sahar Wahbeh, the 34-year-old U.S.-born Lebanese-Palestinian on a mission to change the lives of orphans in the region and beyond. Just over three years ago, the Dubai-based mother of one left her fulltime job in consulting to start Dumyé, an online social enterprise that sells personalized dolls. Customers choose the style and personalize the look, and for every doll purchased Dumyé donates another doll to one of the world’s 153 million orphaned children.

She has never had any support or investment other than her own savings. However, Dumyé is one of 16 finalists – the only one from the Middle East and North Africa – with a chance to win $1 million in a new global competition called The Venture, which takes place in the United States in July.

Finalists will pitch for the funds in front of an expert global judging panel. The public can help finalists win $250,000 of the total prize money through the click of a button. Until June 14, anyone can log on to theventure.com to cast their vote. The remaining $750,000 will go to one lucky winner chosen by the judges this summer. Al Arabiya News met Wahbeh to find out more.

Where did the idea for your business come from?
I started making dolls because I wanted to gift my daughter something really special for the holidays, something I had hoped would one day become synonymous with her childhood. Disappointed with what I found available in the market, I decided to create a doll of my own. I realized Dumyé was an opportunity to not only share with my daughter what I valued in life, but to actually live by it.

Things like respecting mother nature – our dolls are made with a mixture of organic, sustainable and mostly natural materials – and having compassion for our fellow women, which is why we commission an NGO in one of the poorest states of India to handle elements of our production. This allows us to empower women in their community to be self-sufficient, while they use their proceeds to educate the next generation of girls.

Today our dolls live in more than 15 countries. Ultimately, it is my hope that when our generation passes the reigns to my daughter / our children, we will be leaving them to a world better than the one we were born to.

Source: english.alarabiya.net