SEP is a Social Enterprise and a Community. Our presence in Jerash Camp has become a catalyst for change and for great initiatives, all borne out of the fantasy of our beloved #SEPAmbassadors and the ideas of the SEP Social Impact Team at the camp!

We thought we would share some of these initiatives with our readers: they will help understand the deep impact of each of Your Purchases!

1. Gifting: Banque Landolt & Cie, The Tamari Foundation, lifestyle blogger Johanna Maggy, a Geneva based Law Firm, a Jordanian Princess among others, have decided to source their corporate gifts from SEP Jordan. Why? From the 2016 Christmas letter by Banque Landolt "<this gift> is a way to share with you our choice to be a company which listens to others, proud to be based on a durable and responsible culture, aiming to contribute to a better world in the future".

2. Endorsement: top model Bianca Balti, the face of labels such as Dolce&Gabbana and L'Oreal, one of the most beautiful models active on the fashion scene today and a UNHCR ambassador, chose to become a SEPAmbassador. Bianca even decided to feature SEP Jordan as a shopping destination on her website!

3. Hosting Private Events: amazing ladies such as Catherine Tabatabay, Della Tamari, Sawsan Asfari, Atalanti Moquette, Veronica Goei De Piante, Raheek Ador, Mary Nazzal-Batayneh to name but some, have opened their homes for the most incredible SEP Jordan events, including photoshoots. Such events are wonderful opportunities to tell the SEP story and to build our brand awareness, we cannot thank them enough!

4. Entrepreneurial development: Helen Al Uzaizi's BizWorld UAE held intense and exciting entrepreneurship classes in the SEP House during the summer of 2017, which culminated in a local market to showcase 18 children's business ideas. The course developed basic business skills, in strike contrast with the aid dependance culture which too often takes hold of refugee camps. When kids were asked to draw one big company, one of them chose to draw SEP Jordan, along with other children's choices such as Toyota, Coca Cola, and the likes :)

5. Philanthropy investments: the Tamari Foundation in Geneva generously decided to cover the fixed costs of the Sep-Tamari Academy, opened in 2016 at the camp to train all SEP artists to ensure every SEP creation meets the highest international quality standards. This is inherently a non -for-profit initiative, which SEP Jordan profits will one day be able to support, but the Tamari Foundation intervention allowed us to get going a few years ahead of schedule, enabling us to focus on building a unique, innovative luxury brand. Over 100 students attended the Academy since inception.

6. Summer Activities for children: Geneva based SEP Ambassador Ms Catherine Tabatabay generously offered to pay for teacher fees this summer for courses in English and IT aimed at dozens of SEP kids. Yet another activity SEP Jordan plan to fund with corporate profits in the future; Ms Tabatabay's intervention allowed SEP to reach more children and faster than planned. Why are these courses important for SEP? A happy SEP Artist also need happy kids, especially when they are off school in the summer! :)

7. Time: SEP Jordan and the ACS (American Community School Amman) started a partnership in 2016, which is being taken to a whole new level in 2017. One of the many initiatives agreed upon is English Lessons over Skype, for both SEP Artists and children. The computer room at the SEP-Tamari Academy will be the nest for english lessons and hopefully friendships which will develop in the coming months between camp residents and ACS students willing to donate their time to teach English online.

8. Book donations: Dr Salam Al Mahadin was looking for a safe home for her late father's book collection. She decided to donate 400 titles, mainly novels, history and politics, to the SEP-Tamari library in Jerash Camp. The library was created by ACS in 2016 and Dr Al Mahadin's donation has made it an absolutely outstanding library, not by camp standards, but by country standards. We offer free access and borrowing facility to camp residents and a calm reading area for the SEP community.

9. Targeted courses: SEP Social Impact Activities Manager Duah Syam has coordinated a host of courses which our community has thoroughly enjoyed. UNICEF, Jordan Paramedic Society, Jordan Origami Club, Paramedics Kids Initiative, Shoman Foundation Knowledge Path are some among the many organisations who generously donated their time and knowledge to the SEP community, holding classes in first aid, domestic violence, childhood development, origami, marionette, reading skills, etc. #mutualhappiness: SEP always guarantee full classes with a highly focused and motivated public, for maximum impact of the course.

10. Auctioning: Zainab Shami is a SEP Ambassador and a 10th grade student in Amman, Jordan. She was assigned the project: "create something original, with a positive social impact". Zainab designed 4 t-shirts, featuring the words "peace", "love", "unity", "freedom" and asked the SEP Jordan creative team to embroider unique patterns around these magical words. The t-shirts were auctioned in Amman and the funds raised will speed up SEP's investment plans, aimed at making the artists' lives better: namely an air conditioning and heating system, among others. 

11. Conscious Sourcing: Orange Spain CSR Department decided to source several hundreds of embroidered creations which will be sold at their employees' Christmas Markets across Spain. This is not a classical charity initiative: it is a firm purchase, which of course the SEP team was very excited about, based on the conviction that the same items will be sold before Christmas and the investment repaid. We call this "vertical integration of social impact".

12. Space: our CSR partner in Jordan, Landmark Hotels Amman and their SEPAmbassador Chairperson Mary Nazzal-Batayneh have designated an area in the Landmark hotel lobby, which has become the beautiful Amman SEP Jordan shop. SEP get a 5 star window in central Amman and Landmark customers get a unique shopping experience: a wonderful example of triple-bottom-line focus by a visionary company in Jordan!