Mrs. Suad Al Husseini Al Juffali

Mrs. Suad Juffali is a renowned philanthropist and a well-respected social figure. She has been a social entrepreneur since her early days, and she is the Co-Founder of the Help Center: a special education institution for children with intellectual disabilities. She is also the Chairperson of The Brain Forum Board of Foundation, and the Managing Director of The Ahmed Juffali Benevolent Foundation.

Mrs. Juffali is a generous and active philanthropist. As the widow of the Late Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah Juffali, she has grasped every opportunity to help and reform her community. She is the patron of Tarek Ahmed Juffali Research Chair in Red Sea Ecology at KAUST established in 2013 and has received numerous awards for her charitable services in various areas of education and welfare of women and children.

She established her own foundation contributing scholarship funds to Arab students in support for their higher education and providing chairs in different universities, globally. Mrs. Juffali was also involved in establishing and organizing the first women welfare society in Jeddah in 1956 and followed by helping and organizing Al-Faisaliyah Women Society. Both of these societies deal with mother and child welfare in health and education, helping to eliminate illiteracy for women. Among many other positions, she sits on the Board of various national and international educational institutions, including the American University in Cairo, Effat University, and the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. 

In 2011, she won the “Takreem” initiative for Arab achievements in the category of charitable work and humanitarian services. She holds an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from the American University in Cairo and the Lebanese American University in Lebanon.

When asked why she gives back to LAU?
She answered: “This is the future of your grandchildren, of our children, of their children. I would like my grandchildren to be raised in an Arab country, but with a perfect international education—and that is, for me, the number one reason why I continue promoting LAU. We should never forget that this is a nonprofit organization that cannot live without our full support. It doesn’t have to be a huge sum, but I believe in a yearly sum according to each person’s ability…. (The university must) have students from different classes. It shouldn’t be the rich only who can have a good education. I want the people on the street to be educated.”