Harvard PLD Alumni for Syria Refugee Crisis Campaign Launched

BOSTON - March 2, 2016 - PRLog -- A small group of PLDx.org members and fellow Harvard PLDers from class 18, have launched their PLDers for Syria Refugee Crisis Campaign in an attempt to be relevant and responsive to the worst humanitarian crisis of our time.Their aim is to raise US$ 1 million.

Five PLDx.org members and participants of the Harvard Business School Program for Leadership Development (PLD), Estanis Utrilla, Melissa Kaplan, Mmabatho Nkambule, Imran Zaheer and Candido Cancelo, have decided to focus on the plight of Syrian refugees. The decision was agreed upon after months of deliberation on how they, as PLDers, could best pool their energy and resources together to make a meaningful contribution on a global scale. To actualize their vision, they agreed to be relevant and responsive to pressing global social needs; therefore, addressing the Syrian refugee crisis is paramount in achieving this ambitious goal.

Currently based at 5 different locations across the world, Germany, Spain, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, the team behind this campaign met at Harvard Business School. Having gone there to learn how to become better leaders, they also left knowing that they wanted to use the experience beyond their own personal transformation. They believe that there is power in ordinary people from a diversity of cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds joining hands for the common good of uplifting their fellow human beings.

“After an optimistic start in July of 2014 at the HBS campus in Boston, well over a hundred emails, Skype calls at awkward hours from at least 10 locations around the world, many starts and stops as we shaped the team and grappled with our vision and purpose, we have finally launched our campaign,” said Mmabatho Nkambule from her city of residence, Pretoria, South Africa. “It took a while for us to settle on where we would focus our collective energy, abilities and resources. What we knew for sure was that we wanted to be responsive and relevant to the most pressing global needs. And right now, the dire situation in which Syrian refugees find themselves is the worst humanitarian crisis of our time,” explained Estanis Utrilla Guines from his hometown, Valencia, Spain.

For this campaign, the group has partnered with the International Rescue Committee– a world leading NGO focused on the world’s worst humanitarian crises helping people to survive and rebuild their lives in over 40 countries.

About PLDx.org and the team behind the PLDers for Syria Refugee Crisis Campaign

PLDx.org is an online community platform that connects all past and present participants of the Harvard Program for Leadership Development (PLD). Learn more at PLDx.org. Estanis Utrilla Gines, who lives in Spain, is the EMEA Director of Customer Support and Operations and responsible of Sales in Spain for Openwave Messaging. Mmabatho Nkambule is the founder and owner of Tshukudu Consulting, based in South Africa. Cándido A. Cancelo Cabanas, who lives between Spain and Germany, is the Managing Director of PECOFacet Iberica, S.A. and PECOFacet Deutschland GmbH. Melissa Kaplan, based in Switzerland, is the Executive Director of Hadassah International. Imran Zaheer, located in Saudi Arabia, is an Executive Manager in Mobily and a Co-Founder/Chairman at Children Development Foundation. To support the PLDers for Syria Refugee Crisis Campaign, please visit: http://diy.rescue.org/pld4refugees

About the International Rescue Committee

The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is at work in over 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities.Learn more at Rescue.org.