A Lugar Lecture at the Evans Center on November 10, 2015
George Srour, 32, is the founder and chief dreamer of Building Tomorrow, Inc. (BT), an Indianapolis based social-profit organization catalyzing communities and individuals in support of access to quality education for students in East Africa. Srour attended the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he graduated in 2005 with a major in government and international relations. Upon graduation, Srour was awarded the James Monroe Prize for Civic Leadership and the inaugural William E. Simon Fellowship for Noble Purpose. Using both awards, Srour started BT in the fall of 2005.
Under Srour’s leadership, Building Tomorrow has raised over $7 million, empowering individuals and communities in East Africa to donate over 100 acres of land and volunteer nearly 400,000 hours of labor to build schools for out-of-school children throughout rural Uganda. To date, Building Tomorrow has constructed classroom space for more than 7,500 children while engaging a college-based chapter network of students at more than 20 universities across the United States.
Srour has been recognized for his work in the field of social entrepreneurship, being named an Echoing Green Fellow (‘07), a member of the GOOD 100 (‘13) and added to the Forbes Magazine 30 Under 30 list for social entrepreneurs (‘13). In 2014, Building Tomorrow launched Educate 51k, a five-year, $12 million initiative aimed at enrolling 50,980 out-of-school children by 2019 through the construction of 60 primary-level schools and the recruitment of 150 Building Tomorrow Fellows.