MEET THE 2019 GIA RECIPIENT: GEORGE SROUR

The Global Impression Award recognizes individuals whose professional accomplishments are strengthening ties between Indiana and the global community.

Overview

The 2019 Global Impression Award recipient, George Srour, epitomizes a strong Hoosier leader whose work impacts the global community. Srour, Co-Founder and Chief Dreamer of Building Tomorrow, has built over 75 primary schools for Ugandan children, created a fellowship of leaders serving those students, and developed an educational approach to help students and communities succeed.

While still attending the College of William and Mary, George met with Joseph Bagambaki Kaliisa in Kampala, Uganda, to make plans for the construction of a ten-room school in a nearby district. In 2006, the first school was built, and Building Tomorrow was founded.

When asked about Building Tomorrow’s success Srour said, “We believe in working hand-in-hand with the communities we support. All too often, aid organizations prescribe a solution to a problem they don’t live or know all too well first-hand. That’s not the ethos we’ve adopted at Building Tomorrow, and I believe being Ugandan-led and having a predominantly Ugandan staff in-country is key to continued success.”

Career Highlights

Srour’s dedication to providing education to underserved children in Uganda has led to measurable results with over 54,000 out-of-school re-enrolled because of Building Tomorrow’s efforts. What started out as the building of one school in Uganda has now grown to 81 schools.

After recognizing the need of schools throughout Uganda, Srour did not stop there. Building Tomorrow developed a Fellows program which engages Ugandan university graduates to work in underserved schools, serving 100,000 children a day. It is through this program that Building Tomorrow ensures the efforts are community driven and sustainable.

Building Tomorrow also focuses on improving basic literacy and numeracy skills through a program called Roots to Rise which is a learning initiative that involves grouping students according to their learning level.

Srour, when asked how he knew he was successful, replied, “One of our organizational behaviors is being relentlessly determined—and that means working hard to ensure we’re able to continuously work toward reaching the hundreds of thousands of children in Uganda and beyond who are currently out of school.” Srour’s global impression in Indiana, Uganda and worldwide is just beginning.

Do you know a young professional or emerging leader in Indiana that’s making a big global impact? Nominations for the 2020 award are open June 1 through July 15.