Ibrahim Badran Foundation was established in 2014, and its beginning was, as described by Ola Ismail, a painful one. After the tragic loss of her son Ibrahim in a car accident, she transformed her profound grief and the love people had for him into a charitable initiative dedicated to serving society.
Just one week after Ibrahim’s passing, Ola founded the Ibrahim Badran Foundation to provide free healthcare through medical convoys. Within two weeks, the first convoy—funded by the family—set out to a remote village in Fayoum, staffed by relatives, young doctors, and close friends of Ibrahim.
“At first, I didn’t go on the convoys—I was emotionally drained,” Ola recalls. “But when I saw how happy the volunteers were when they returned, and how much it meant to them to help others, I started to feel that I was part of it too. It gave me a sense of healing—as if I, too, was being treated.”
By time, the foundation grew. Ola began joining the convoys herself, and with each trip, she saw the vision becoming a reality—a humanitarian project taking root and flourishing. She built a clear structure with a board of family and close friends, many of them young doctors inspired by Ibrahim’s legacy.
At the time, Ola was also serving as Director of Student Affairs at New Giza University. She managed to balance her university role with the foundation’s work until 2019, when she decided to dedicate herself fully to running the foundation.
Between 2020 and 2025, the Ibrahim Badran Foundation opened ten clinics across Upper Egypt and the Delta, reducing reliance on Cairo-based convoys. It aims to add three more by the end of 2025, with the goal of reaching every governorate.
“The Ibrahim Badran Foundation is truly a blessing from God,” Ola says. “After a long day in the field providing care to so many people, I return not only moved by their prayers for Ibrahim, but also filled with gratitude for how this blessing came to me in an unexpected way. It’s something that now fills my life completely. Sometimes I wonder—if it weren’t for the foundation, what would I have done over the past ten years?”
Looking ahead, Ola hopes to establish a clinic and a mobile medical unit in every governorate, while expanding the convoys to also deliver preventive care programs. Her vision includes providing dignified, high-quality healthcare for all and launching regular health awareness campaigns to promote public well-being.
“What I truly hope is that people will remember Ibrahim Badran as someone who left a meaningful impact—and made a real difference in their lives,” she concludes.
