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Celebrating the Industry Execs Who Give Back To the Community Celebrating the Industry Execs Who Give Back To the Community 16 Nov 2015 We profile the private equity entrants Francois Aguerre Partner, Coller Capital How do you replace 15,000 calories burnt up in a single race? This was just one of the many challenges facing Mr. Aguerre as he competed in one of the world’s most gruelling events, the 170km Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc. Mr. Aguerre turned to glucose supplements – 25 packs of them (each with the equivalent energy of a large packet of pasta) – during his epic attempt to traverse 10 summits in a single race in 2013, completing the course in a very creditable 43 hours. He was so bitten by the endurance bug, he competed again in 2014, raising a total of more than £37,000 for Impetus­PEF, which helps disadvantaged youngsters. He says: “As a father of three, I am very sensitive to the charity’s issues but don’t have much time, so thought fundraising via endurance events was the best way to help out.”  Roberta Benedetti del Rio and Madeleine Evans Co-founders, Finance Matters Can finance be a force for social good? Ms. Benedetti del Rio, 29, an associate with Generation Investment Management, and Ms. Evans, 28, who worked at private equity firm TPG Capital before moving to a role at portfolio company TES Global, believe it can. They co-founded Finance Matters to influence thinking among young City professionals when it comes to social investment. In just three years, the London-based social enterprise, which is entirely volunteer-run, has grown into a thriving 1,000-strong community looking at ways to incorporate social and environmental issues into the mainstream financial industry. Through monthly meetings, newsletters, mentoring and training workshops, Finance Matters is helping “to provide a pathway for individuals in finance who want to contribute to their communities or help tackle today’s social and environmental issues,” says Ms. Evans.  Mark Florman Former head, British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association It is not easy to persuade African parents to send their children to school when they are needed to help on the farm. That was the challenge facing Mr. Florman (pictured left) when he founded Build a School in Africa in 2002. His answer was a microfinance programme to boost local incomes so that the children would no longer be needed. The charity has built 145 schools in Kenya and Uganda, established some 3,500 village savings and loan associations and won a Charity Times Award for Best International Charity. “I tried to get my head round how to help,” recalls Mr. Florman. “It was the toughest thing to do – enormous fun but also enormous work.” The former senior principal at private equity firm Doughty Hanson has since become an effective campaigner on a number of fronts, with Africa at centre stage. He is on the board of the African IP Trust, which has helped the Maasai people receive royalties for the use of the Maasai name from manufacturers, and also a member of the movement against modern-day slavery, a campaign that is helping prepare the U.K.’s Modern Slavery Bill. He also co­founded the 8 Miles fund – designed to invest in Africa – with Sir Bob Geldof and Kofi Annan, the former U.N. Secretary­General.  Lynn Fordham Chief executive, SVG Capital Swinging off the top of three of the City’s iconic skyscrapers is not a usual undertaking for a leading private equity executive but, in the name of charity, people will do the most extreme things. In September, Ms. Fordham abseiled down the Gherkin, the Cheesegrater and the Walkie-Talkie (pictured above) in her latest fundraising feat for The Outward Bound Trust, one of the beneficiaries of the £80,000 she raised. “Many children in deprived urban areas – they hardly get to see a tree. I am passionate about the work The Outward Bound Trust does because it gives Coverage is reproduced under license from the NLA, CLA or other copyright owner. No further copying (including the printing of digital cuttings) digital reproductions or forwarding is permitted except under license from the NLA, http://www.nla.co.uk (for newspapers) CLA http://www.cla.co.uk (for books and magazines) or other copyright body.

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young people the opportunities I had,” she says. Over the years, the SVG head has accomplished multiple feats for charity, from water-skiing around the coast of Scotland to mentoring third-sector chief executives through her volunteering work with Kilfinan Group. She has also raised £100,000 for blood disorder charity MPD Voice.  David Forbes-Nixon Co-founder, chairman and chief executive, Alcentra When looking for a school for his disabled son Charlie, Mr. Forbes-Nixon was frustrated by the lack of available facilities. “We couldn’t find anywhere in the middle, where children with relatively mild physical and learning difficulties like Charlie could get the care they needed,” he says. He decided to set up his own charity, the DFN Charitable Foundation, to help fund schools for children with special needs and to give these “lovely kids the best chance to be the best they can be”. Grabbing the bull by the horns, Mr. Forbes­Nixon bought a derelict Victorian mansion in Surrey, once owned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to develop a school with “truly world­class” facilities for 65 students, including a swimming pool, therapy gym and multi-use games area. It is an ambitious undertaking and Mr. Forbes­Nixon has underwritten the estimated £7 million development costs. He has also raised a further £700,000 ahead of the school’s opening in June next year. “This is by far the biggest challenge I have tackled,” says Mr. Forbes-Nixon, who also served as a trustee on the board of Operation Smile U.K. for nine years, personally raising over £100,000 for the children’s medical charity. “But I am inspired by my son’s courage and I feel we can make a real difference to these children’s lives.”  Patrick Smulders Managing partner, Bregal Freshstream Determined to provide educational opportunities for children in refugee communities, Mr. Smulders and his wife Kirkland set up the Horizon Foundation in 2006 to provide places for promising students at top boarding schools in the U.K. and U.S. “The idea,” says Mr. Smulders, “was to educate people who could later return home and act as change agents in communities desperately in need of strong leadership.” More than 100 students from areas of the world with some of the most intractable refugee problems – Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Tibet and Afghanistan – have so far passed through the programme. Many have gone on to top universities including Harvard and MIT. The charity is also working with three communities – in Palestine, Mongolia and a group of Tibetan exiles in India – to develop a network of care and education centres, and looking to sponsor a school in Kabul set up by the sister of one of the Horizon students. Glowing testimonials from the students describe their transformative experience. “I thrive on providing an opportunity for these kids,” says Mr. Smulders.  Five years ago Mohamad Fahed was a Palestinian refugee with limited educational prospects. Now he is studying at University College London thanks to a scholarship scheme set up by Patrick Smulders and his wife. Here he tells of the “once­in­a­lifetime opportunity” that took him from a refugee settlement in Lebanon to Eton College.  “My grandparents left Palestine for Lebanon in 1948 when the Jewish state was established. There was growing violence in neighbouring villages. Like many Palestinians, they thought it was just a temporary move expecting to return. They never did. “My father was born in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon in 1963. By the time I was born in 1993, they had moved to a small community of 40 Palestinian families. Six of us shared a small house. I shared a bedroom with my grandmother and two brothers, but we were lucky. Neighbouring families were living in worse conditions, some without even a proper roof. “Opportunities were very limited. There were no sports facilities at school and classes were very big, with as many as 50 students. I did well though. At the age of 14, I got the highest grade in southern Lebanon among Palestinian schools. The head teacher told me he’d had a visit from a British teacher from Eton seeking students for a scholarship programme. I’d never heard of Eton before. When I googled Eton at my uncle’s house, I was astonished. I’d never thought there would be a school this size with all these facilities.  “I had a phone interview, then an interview at the British Embassy in Beirut, and spent a week at Eton being assessed before being offered a sixth form place in 2010. Eton took great care to prepare me for the experience. Before starting I spent four weeks studying English there.

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“I was a bit homesick at first. I remember sitting in my room at Eton not believing I had so much space to myself. Everything was different from what I was used to: the rules, the way things had to be done by a specific time, the food – I missed the food at home – and especially the teaching. In Lebanon, teachers used to simplify everything and spoon-feed all the answers. In Eton we were expected to research topics by ourselves. I was studying six subjects: double maths, physics, biology, chemistry and Arabic. “The practical lessons were especially tough because I’d never done any experiments in laboratories before.“But I soon settled in. The uniform did take a bit of getting used to – I laughed when I first saw it. And my fellow students never made me feel that they were the sons of some of the most influential people in the U.K. Eton also respected my Muslim background. We weren’t required to go to church on a Sunday. Instead the school would bring in an Imam from Oxford for me and 20 Muslim students to discuss various issues. “But I also learnt that education wasn’t only about studying academic subjects in class. It was also about learning from students around you or playing sport in a team or learning to read music and singing in a choir. I did well in my exams – straight As at AS level, then an A*, A and 3Bs at A level – and was awarded a place to study civil engineering at UCL. “I have thrived at university. I was elected chair of the UCL Students Union by the biggest margin ever. I helped set up a scheme with students at the London School of Economics to mentor students in refugee camps by Skype. I also became treasurer of the Friends of Palestine at UCL. I am also trying to get funding for scholarships for Palestinian students to study at UCL. “I will graduate from my master’s in September 2016 and am looking to find a job in the U.K. because I want some training. It would be difficult for me to return to Lebanon because, as a Palestinian refugee, I am not allowed to work in the public sector as an engineer or to have my own engineering company. Even getting a job in the private sector is very difficult because engineering is one of 70 professions where work is restricted for Palestinian refugees. Also Palestinians aren’t allowed to buy land or own properties outside certain refugee camps.  “Also I don’t have a passport. I’m not eligible for a Lebanese passport, nor a Palestinian one. I have to travel on refugee travel documents. I am stopped at every airport, then questioned by an immigration official who invariably calls over the manager who then questions me more. I have to apply for a visa from Lebanon everywhere I go. The last visa to the U.K. for my one­year master’s cost me £711.  “The dream is to help my community, but…I need to gain more skills and training to be able to do something. If I can’t get a job in the U.K., I’ll have to look for a job in the Arab Gulf but even that can be difficult because of visa restrictions for Palestinians. “None of this would have been possible without the support of the Horizon Foundation, a charity set up by private equity executive Patrick Smulders and his wife Kirkland, which paid for the scholarship. I have visited them many times at their home where they treat me like family. The foundation is doing amazing work because it is helping young people like me who have huge potential to improve their future by taking them from refugee communities and sending them to top schools. “In return these people will help their families and eventually their communities in parts of the Middle East and Asia with some of the most pressing problems.”  METHODOLOGY:From nearly 100 nominations, the Financial News editorial team chose a shortlist of 60, which were presented to a judging panel of philanthropy figures from the City in October. From those discussions, the final 40 were chosen. See FN for the full list. [sourcelink] http://www.penews.com/today/fundsinvestors/content/4075341852 [/sourcelink]

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British Venture Capital Association The Guardian 16/11/2015

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British Venture Capital Association The Guardian 16/11/2015

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British Venture Capital Association Financial News 16/11/2015

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