A Scottish entrepreneur, that is leading the fight against water poverty in developing countries, has been invited to a town hall with President Barack Obama.
Alan Mahon, founder of Brewgooder – the craft beer brand on a mission to bring clean water access to one million people – was invited by the Obama Foundation to the town hall, which took place yesterday (6 April 2019) in Berlin, Germany.
The event, which brought together hundreds of emerging young leaders from across Europe, aimed to ignite conversation about what it means to be an active citizen and help advise how the Obama Foundation can help support emerging leaders in this area of work.
It reflects the Obama Foundation’s efforts to engage young leaders from around the world in a conversation about the importance of community leadership and civic engagement, consistent with the Foundation’s mission to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world.
The 300-plus guest list included leaders from across the continent who are working in areas such as government, civil society, journalism, transparency, food security, entrepreneurship, anti-discrimination, integration issues, environmental sustainability, and technology. They were drawn from public, private, and non-profit sectors and came from a cross-section of backgrounds.
Alan Mahon, founder of Brewgooder, said: “I felt honoured being asked to help represent Scotland, social enterprises and the fight against water poverty at this prestigious event.
“I can recall being 18 years old when I stayed up all night to watch Barrack Obama become the US President in 2008. I remember having such a strong sense of hope in a better future then and that hope was renewed by attending the Obama Foundation Town Hall with so many inspiring young leaders from across Europe.”
During the town hall, President Obama answered questions from young leaders in the room as well as questions submitted online by young people across Europe, with the event being livestreamed on obama.org.
As Bernadette Meehan, Chief International Officer at the Obama Foundation, said when the Obama Foundation announced the programme last month: “President Obama and the Foundation want to hear directly from emerging leaders from across Europe—about their aspirations, challenges, and issues of concern and opportunity.
“The future of Europe lies with these young leaders, and the Foundation wants to help them advance and scale their work. We look forward to hearing how the Foundation can best support these young leaders, who already are doing inspiring work to advance positive change, hand in hand with their communities.”
Launched in March 2016, Brewgooder is on a mission to bring 1,000,000 people clean drinking water through the power of beer. To date, it has helped more than 64,000 people across Malawi through 132 clean water projects.
By the end of 2019, the brand hopes to have helped over 100,000 people gain consistent clean water access, with the ultimate goal to take 100,00 people out of water poverty a year by the end of 2020. Each case of Brewgooder sold provides a person with clean water for over five years.
Further information about Brewgooder is available at www.brewgooder.com.
