Young Alumni Spotlight: Malak Yacout

Young Alumni Spotlight: Malak Yacout, Co-Founder and CEO of The Volunteer Circle

Malak Yacout

Malak Yacout ’15 initially planned to pursue a career in marketing. She had the degree, the skills, and the experience. She had even just gotten a job at her “dream company.”

But the minute she got the offer, she declined it.

“I realized, I don’t want to age and then later regret not having done the thing I knew I was really passionate about. It would have killed me working for a company, knowing that there was an idea on the backburner, left untouched, untapped.” within; however, her unparalleled communication skills and community-mindedness are something she credits to IC.

From 6th grade on, Malak was a class representative at IC. She had to navigate the complex student-teacher student-administration relationships, communicating both parties’ opinions and making sure all needs were met. Not a particularly easy task at a school of 3,000, but one that undoubtedly prepared her well for her current job, where she similarly navigates relationships between individuals and organizations.

A gamble? Perhaps. A challenge? Definitely. But Malak would not have it any other way - and many are grateful she took the road less traveled.

Today, her social enterprise, The Volunteer Circle, works with 6,000+ volunteers to match their skills with the needs and demands of 230 NGOs across all regions and sectors in Lebanon. It fills a huge gap in the country’s third sector. The demand for help exists, but the capacity to coordinate, organize and source volunteers who actually understand the country’s context and have the skills to address an organizations’ specific needs, is lacking. As the young start-up was founded in mid-2019, when a series of crises crippled the country’s environment, society, and economy, Malak has worn many hats as its founder, CEO, first responder, tech wizard, marketing expert and mentor. Her admirable drive to have a positive societal impact and resourcefulness definitely stem from

“I’d rather be a millionaire in the number of lives I’ve Malak’s involvement in student council, as well as the emphasis in Secondary School on touched and the number of learning outside the classroom, people I’ve met than have a exposed her to a world beyond the ‘IC bubble’ and prompted million dollars in my bank her to think more critically account . ” about her privilege. Mr. Riad Chirazi in particular, the head of the Council of Student Representatives, helped nurture this sense of community. “He always emphasized that, whatever activity you want to do, think about how to give back as well,” she recalls. “He reminded us that outside this gated community, there is a whole world with so many layers to get to know and understand.” Despite limited opportunities to volunteer, Malak was still deeply ingrained with a desire to be involved with Beirut beyond the tree-lined walkways and red-shingled roofs. The summer after her freshman year at AUB, Malak began searching for volunteer opportunities around Lebanon.

With the governmental, environmental, and refugee crises escalating around her, she was shocked that she couldn’t find any open or accessible volunteer positions.

“I found a few opportunities, but it turned out the listed positions were long overdue. There was just no update or proper communication. It didn’t make any sense to me. I thought, ‘the demand must be very high, how come there were no opportunities, or mechanisms to get involved in a safe and meaningful way?’” she recalls. her head, into a concrete, viable, business plan.

Luckily, she had just met someone who was similarly as passionate about advancing volunteer opportunities in Lebanon, her future business partner Nadine Makarem. They met through common friends and immediately connected over shared frustrations and beliefs surrounding Lebanon’s development sector.

After a small crowdfunding campaign, Malak and Nadine officially launched The Volunteer Circle in March of 2019.

Malak ultimately spent that summer volunteering in Tanzania. She gained a lot from the experience. Yet the notion that getting a visa, buying a plane ticket, and traveling to a completely new country that she had no real connection to, was easier than volunteering in her own backyard, did not sit comfortably. She didn’t feel she was really a volunteer. “I was a traveler, for sure, but the program was very commercial. The programs are pre-designed. They are happening with or without you and you don’t really have a huge impact. You are benefiting more from the experience than the people you are supposedly helping,” she asserts. This discomfort lingered in the back of her mind as she continued her studies. She did a semester abroad and was shocked (and equally frustrated) to see just how easy it was for European or American citizens to volunteer in their own countries. When she returned, a more concrete idea began to take shape. Why not develop a platform that helps organizations find volunteers who fit their needs, and in turn help people who want to have a tangible impact find organizations that benefit from their specific skills and talents? As a business major at AUB, she had the opportunity to pilot the burgeoning concept as a final project, for which she applied concepts and skills she learned in her degree. She received constructive feedback from her professors. It enabled her to turn what had, for so long, been an idea in

They got to work immediately, designing a user-friendly platform that transforms traditional approaches to volunteering. Interested volunteers create a profile that outlines their availability and skillset, then apply to open volunteer positions listed by NGOs. AI analyzes the profile and application to determine if the individual is a “match for the organization.” The process A TVC Restoration Initiative is very personal and case specific, and unless there is an 80% match of volunteer profile and organizational needs, the parties will not connect. The organization has grown substantially in size and capacity since it first began. However, it has not been without road bumps. Today, TVC Volunteer at Work - Quality Control social entrepreneurship is a buzz-word in start-up circles, but at the time The Volunteer Circle began, the notion of “social enterprise” was still very ambiguous to investors, companies, and organizations. The few people whom they knew had done something similar were much older and had established careers and capital. On top of that, they also launched at the onset of a very tumultuous three years. That September, the environmental crisis came to a head in a series of devastating forest fires. In October, the Civil Uprisings, and in the months following, the financial meltdown, COVID, and the Beirut blast, one after the other. Operating as a sort of “middleman” between the third sector and civilians looking to get involved, they have very much been on the front lines.

Neighborhood Cleanup

This perhaps forced them to be resourceful, innovative, and rapid, in their approach and development. The crises did help build and strengthen their community and expand the volunteer base. “It’s good that we had something like this to mobilize in times of need,” Malak reflects.

Furthermore, operating on the front lines has allowed them to build very rich knowledge around community needs and productive ways to address them- which they have monetized as a service for interested companies and organizations.

However, as Malak relays, they were operating in triage mode. They didn’t have the time or resources to focus on the long-term mission and vision or to implement and improve things like their AI system.

“We were so consumed in humanitarian relief and emergencies that we had to deviate from our main vision.” “she states. “All the investments were targeted at basic issues that should have long been fulfilled. That was our main challenge during this time, navigating the crises and optimizing our agility and rapid response.”

Today, they are close to their original vision: connecting skilled volunteers to opportunities in demand, not only at a local level, but on a regional level as well. They’ve had more breathing room to develop new, smarter technology, which will soon be released on their upcoming mobile app. They’ve worked tirelessly to make the app as inclusive as possible, with features for people with disabilities, like hearing and sight differences. regional organizations - expanding their model into Egypt and Jordan. It’s important to note, Malak emphasizes, that they will not be simply replicating the same model, but making sure it’s structured around the context and needs of the local environment.

Malak’s accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. But as she steadily climbs the ladder, she is always sure to reach back down and lift up others.

In 2020, Malak was the youngest candidate nominated for EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women Network. Through this, she was exposed to the #IamRemarkable initiative, a campaign that empowers women to talk openly about their accomplishments and attempts to break the glass ceiling through workshops and mentorship programs. For Malak, now a mentor and program leader herself, it’s not just about supporting women but all underrepresented groups. She has worked with people from many different communities all over the country. However, She holds experiences with women at the Bourj el-Barajneh refugee camp particularly close to her heart

“I always like to lend my voice,” she says with a smile. “Mentoring is what I enjoy the most - honestly. I was mentored, and I’m still being mentored. We all need mentors in our lives. Transferring knowledge is so impactful. Seeing where the people I have coached are now, is the biggest reward.”

The Volunteer Circle is just the beginning for Malak and she is in the early stages of developing two other projects. However, she doesn’t see herself ever pursuing a career that doesn’t have some sort of social impact. “I will never work unless it matters to other people -not measured in terms of recognition, but in terms of change, and its impact on the lives of others. I’d rather be a millionaire in the number of people I’ve touched and the number of travelers I’ve met, than have a million dollars in my bank account,” she asserts.

With everything she has accomplished, it is heartwarming that Malak is so proud of her roots at IC and so passionate about engaging the wider IC community. She emphasizes “I want to encourage students to volunteer and alumni to get in touch, whether they are in Lebanon or abroad. There is so much we can do together! I would love to hear from fellow alumni and to read their stories – the IC community is incredibly diverse and rich with people across all different sectors in all different corners of the world. I hope to see more projects with purpose.”

For more stories and testimonials from the Volunteer Circle, please visit https://www.instagram.com/ thevolunteercircle/