Andan Zurich Event Launch
Zurich 27 May 2019
Henley & Partners and the Andan Foundation: Harnessing entrepreneurial innovation to support refugees and host sovereign states – Andan enters into a partnership with UNICEF
The role that the private sector is playing in addressing the global challenges faced by refugees and sovereign states, was at the core of an event jointly hosted by Henley & Partners and the Andan Foundation in Zurich on 23 May 2019.
The keynote speeches and panel discussion focussed on innovative potential solutions devised by private sector actors, or developed with private sector support, in a number of refugee hosting countries around the world. The panel included contributions from respected leaders in the field:
Bettina Junker, Executive Director, Committee for UNICEF Switzerland and Lichtenstein
Monique Morrow, Founder and President, The Humanised Internet, and President of the Vetri Foundation
Sofiane Ammar, Co-founder and Chairman of the Chams Foundation
Other organizations and networks involved with refugee economic empowerment were invited, like the Tent Foundation, a US platform working closely with multinationals and business all over the world to hire refugees and integrate them. Guests included entrepreneurs, business leaders and Henley & Partners clients and partners.
The event raised awareness of the global challenges facing refugees and host states and demonstrated that solutions do not have to involve only multi-billion dollar investments of public capital and macro political engagement. Meaningful change can be driven both by specific training and employment schemes as well as innovative solutions fuelled by injections of private capital into incubator-style projects. New creative ideas can be tested on a small scale, refined and contextualized in partnership with expert humanitarian actors, to both create local positive outcomes and then be assessed for their feasibility to be scaled up to the macro level.
The Andan Foundation, established in 2017 by the Swiss lawyer and entrepreneur Dr. Christian Kalin, Chairman of the globally leading investment migration firm, Henley & Partners, maintains an international focus on refugee economic inclusion while its programs strategy favours initiatives aimed to empower and enable economic inclusion of younger generations of refugees. To this end, the Andan Foundation was very pleased to announce a three year partnership with UNICEF to identify specific interventions, such as the GIL program in Lebanon that provides refugee youth with innovation skills, training for business development, seed funding, and mentorship and coaching for young entrepreneurs.
In collaboration with MIT Solve, an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that advances lasting solutions from tech entrepreneurs to address the world's most pressing problems, the Andan Foundation has also recently established a USD 50,000 Innovation for Refugee Inclusion Prize to encourage projects and creative thinking from the private sector to come forward and receive recognition.
Dr. Christian H. Kälin, Chairman of the Andan Foundation and Chairman of Henley & Partners stated: “The Andan Foundation is designed to capture the vigor and entrepreneurial drive of the private sector to design scalable solutions to aid sovereign states and NGOs in their work supporting both refugees and host countries. We very much hope our audience can see the very real human value created by donating either capital or time to the Andan Foundation.
Bettina Junker, Executive Director of UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein commented: “UNICEF is delighted to partner with the Andan Foundation to support the youth in Lebanon. Young people who have completed the UNICEF GIL program are prepared for the coming economic challenges. They have gained confidence and have already learned how to implement their own projects. The most important thing is that we have given them hope and prospects.”
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Biographies
Dr. Christian H. Kaelin
Dr. Christian H. Kälin, TEP, IMCM, the founder and Chairman of Andan Foundation, is considered one of the world’s foremost experts in investment migration and citizenship-byinvestment, a field he pioneered. Holding master’s and PhD degrees in law from the University of Zurich, he is a sought-after speaker and advises governments and international organizations. He is the author, co-author, or editor of many publications, including standard works such as the Global Residence and Citizenship Handbook, Ius Doni: The Acquisition of Citizenship by Investment, the Kälin – Kochenov Quality of Nationality Index, and the Switzerland Business & Investment Handbook. Dr. Kälin is not only an accomplished lawyer, legal scholar, and one of the globally leading investment migration specialists, he is also a successful serial entrepreneur, investor, author, editor and global humanitarian and philanthropist.
Monique Morrow
Monique is a technologist, an ex-CTO of CISCO and today President and Co-Founder of the Humanized Internet and President of the VETRI Foundation. The Humanized Internet is a nonprofit organization focused on providing digital identities for those individuals most underserved.
Recognized as one of the most influential technology leaders worldwide, Monique has earned honors that include Top 100 CIOs for 2016 (CIO.com), Top Women in Cloud Innovations Award 2016 (CloudNow), Social Media Presence of the Year 2016 (AI Magazine), 10 Women in Networking/Communications You Should Know, Top 10 Influential IT Women in Europe (Think Progress), 2015 Women of M2M/IoT (Connected World Magazine), and 2014 GEM-TECH Award (ITU and UN). She is a tireless advocate for women in technology and engineering, serving on multiple non-profit boards, publishing Internet of Women, Accelerating Culture Change in 2016 and facilitating the launch of the Women in Standardization Expert Group for ITU.
Sofiane Ammar
Sofiane Ammar has more than 30 years’ experience in telecom, IT and digital business. He has substantial expertise through his entrepreneurship experience in building scalable teams and platforms around IT and network/telcos operations, cloud and data,. He has also been an active tech and social investor in several startups since 2003 and recently joined Sophia Business Angels as a board member, become a shareholder and godfather in The Family French incubator, and the Partech and Daphni funds, in order to bring his expertise as advisor in several startups. Sofiane operated a Tunisian NGO, Yassrine, for more than a decade, focusing on improving education for 11-16 year-olds, and he is the Co-Founder of the Chams Foundation which aims to train as coders 10,000 refugees in remote settlements and camps.
Bettina Junker
Bettina Junker is the Executive Director of the Committee for UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein. In the five years of her previous role, she worked for the Swiss Cancer League and the Swiss Cancer Research as Head of Marketing, Communications and Fundraising. Bettina Junker has extensive international experience in working on diverse multi-national communications platforms, mainly in the financial industry. She had various leading positions in Corporate Communications, Marketing and Branding while she was working for Credit Suisse for more than 17 years.
About the Andan Foundation
The Andan Foundation is a Swiss non-profit, public-benefit foundation devoted to supporting those displaced by war and conflict. Our mission is to identify and develop innovative and sustainable solutions that promote refugees’ self-reliance, boost their resilience, and foster their inclusion in their new countries. We prioritize projects that expand economic, financial, and political opportunities for both refugee populations and the communities that host them.
We believe that the collective ingenuity and creativity of the entrepreneurs and investors driving the private sector, coupled with the expertise and principles of the humanitarian sector, will dramatically improve what is one of today’s most pressing global cause.
About Henley & Partners
Henley & Partners is the global leader in residence and citizenship planning. Each year, hundreds of wealthy individuals and their advisors rely on our expertise and experience in this area. The firm’s highly qualified professionals work together as one team in over 30 offices worldwide. The concept of residence and citizenship planning was created by Henley & Partners in the 1990s. As globalization has expanded, residence and citizenship have become topics of significant interest among the increasing number of internationally mobile entrepreneurs and investors whom we proudly serve every day.
The firm also runs a leading government advisory practice that has raised more than USD 8 billion in foreign direct investment. Trusted by governments, the firm has been involved in strategic consulting and in the design, set-up, and operation of the world’s most successful residence and citizenship programs.
