JEDDAH, 19 December 2005 — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced that its two-year-old center for the study of poverty eradication received in October an endowment from a prominent Saudi businessman and MIT alumnus Mohammed Jameel. The center has subsequently been named in honor of the businessman’s father.
The goal of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab of MIT is, according to the lab’s website, to serve “as a focal point for the development of poverty research ... to improve the effectiveness of poverty programs by providing scientists with clear scientific results.” It is the only university center of its kind in the world.
“The lab is already having a big impact in the field of development economics,” said Professor Bengt Holmstrom, head of the economics department, according to the center’s website.
The donation by Mohammed Jameel, president, Abdul Latif Jameel Co. Ltd., will fund an endowed professorship, two fellowships and a teaching and research fund.
ALJ Co. Ltd. is the sole distributor of Toyota cars in Saudi Arabia and the largest distributor of Toyota and Lexus cars in the world. Mohammed Jameel’s father founded the company in 1945. ALJ is also involved in consumer electronics, real estate and financial services.
Mohammed Jameel had established a separate administration inside the company for philanthropy in community services programs that focus on combating poverty and creating jobs.
Mohammed Jameel received his S.B. in civil engineering from MIT in 1978.
