Team of Naqa'a enterprise who have boldly stepped forward to introduce revolutionary environment practices across organizations throughout Jeddah. Saudi Gazette Although the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an active participant in the global trend to preserve the environment through a combination of positive initiatives and environmental regulations, a series of major environmental problems have sprung up throughout the country especially in the Bride of the Red Sea, following the recent disastrous floods. Amidst major environmental issues facing the city such as poor waste management and lack of proper sewage system, a group of young women have boldly stepped forward to make a ‘green' change. They established an enterprise called Naqa'a and are successfully running it since two years with the aim of introducing revolutionary environmental practices in organizations and improving the holistic environmental status in Saudi Arabia by guiding businesses in adopting green sustainable practices. Naqa'a performs environmental research and implements projects focused on recycling initiatives, energy management, water conservation and indoor air quality management throughout the community. The founders of the enterprise were even selected by the White House to participate in the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship with President Obama. “We provide green ideas for your business,” said Norah Maghraby, co-founder of Naqa'a enterprise. “Our main target is to involve community youth in the great mission of preserving our planet and promoting greenery. We want to be a living example of how young people can be the drivers of change in a country like Saudi Arabia,” she said. She added that through Naqa'a enterprise, they want to advance the community to a whole new level of eco-friendliness across all age groups and sectors by providing practical environmental solutions combined with awareness. Naqa'a is also a living example of youth empowerment in the Kingdom since the enterprise was founded and is being run by young women who are working extremely hard to preserve the environment and are an inspiration for all. They have been involved in several environment projects and they successfully initiated and are currently managing the recycling system in Dar Al-Hekma College. They have also carried out environmental projects in cooperation with Bridges bookstore and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). In addition, they actively helped in organizing the Gulf Environmental Forum and the Jeddah Environmental Forum. They have also delivered a host of environmental workshops and attended several conferences including World Leadership Conference in Singapore, aiming to deliver their message to the younger generation. These young motivated women are now implementing various environment friendly practices in different organizations within Saudi Arabia in an effort to help them go green. Norah explains the link between environmental protection and the teachings of Islam. “Environmental concepts that have been recently adopted around the world have been in our Islamic teachings over 1400 years ago. We are really proud of our Islamic values and spreading it in the best way possible is one of our major awareness goals,” she said. __
