Asian Voice Charity Awards 2017

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Powered by Tech Partners Charity Clarity Hosted by Asian Business Publications Ltd

@AVCharityAwards

In association with

May 2017 Supporter

Event Managed by

Official Caterer

Drink Sponsors

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Charities

Worthy of every honour

haritable giving runs through the very veins of British life and charities work in innumerable areas, very often in inhospitable conditions.

A report by Charity Today 2017 highlights the huge role charities play in almost every aspect of our daily lives. “This ranges from the £500,000 spent every hour by medical research, hospital and rehabilitation charities, to the £11 million housing charities and associations spend every day keeping a roof over people’s heads, to the 800 cats rescued every week by animal welfare charities,” according to them.

Unfortunately not enough is done to emphasise the deeprooted and often unsung contribution that charities large, medium and small make to the individual, the street, the community, the region, the nation and the world.

It is for this reason that we launched the Asian Voice Charity Awards – to present to the wider world the significance, importance and impact of various charities, and honour them publicly.

The response to the this year's awards has been overwhelming in terms of the nominations we received, and the judging process was an herculean task. For various reasons the judges were compelled to narrow the list down to just four nominations per category, but quite frankly each one of them deserved to be honoured this evening.

I must mention here the charitable giving and philanthropy of the British Asian community. Not only has the community been at the forefront of creating wealth, it has also been extremely generous in sharing it with the less fortunate amongst us.

I take this opportunity to thank the judges, sponsors, the team at Asian Voice and all those who have joined us in recognising and honouring various charities.

CB Patel Publisher / Editor Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

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Elena Fernandes is a supermodel, influencer, actress and philanthropist

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he is half Indian and half South American; her father from Goa and mother from Peru. In between shoots and various projects, Elena resides in London where she was born and raised.

Alongside her successful modelling career, Elena has made her acting debut in Kapoor and Sons, released worldwide in March 2016.

Elena has featured in the most internationally renowned magazines such as Vogue, GQ, and Harpers Bazaar as well as landing huge advertising campaigns with powerhouses Loreal, Adidas and FILA. Elena pursued an education in Law to degree level at Kings College University of London following ambitions to be a solicitor alongside her successful fashion career.

Modelling and acting materialised by chance for Elena and whilst she is grateful for her achievements in the industry, she still stays true to her academic aspirations. She is determined to maintain a healthy balance between her multifaceted career and charity efforts.

Elena is heavily involved with various projects in India to aid both animal and child welfare, as well as helping to raise awareness for numerous children charities. She is actively involved with talks at schools for PETA and WFA. Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

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John Handford

John has over 6 years investment experience as he joined the Sarasin & Partners Charity team on leaving the Army. Sarasin & Partners are a specialist asset management firm whose position within the charity sector continues to grow. Much of his experience has been multinational, in the climate of military, civilian and interagency cooperation. They are one of the leading managers of charity portfolios, managing £6.4 billion (as at 31 March 17) for approximately 400 discretionary clients. Charities and not-for-profit represent over 40% of the firm’s overall business and their commitment to the charitable sector involves publications, seminars, trustee training and events.

John is a trustee of his Regimental Charity and sits on the Professional Advisory Body for Charity Works.

Rajay Naik

Prior to becoming CEO of Keypath Education in Europe, Rajay Naik was a Director at The Open University, UK’s largest university renowned for its global innovation. Rajay's inexhaustible energy stems from his passion for delivering educational opportunities to students around the world. He was previously a member of the landmark Independent Review of Higher Education chaired by Lord Browne. Alongside his role at Keypath Education, he is a member of the British Council’s education board and the UKASEAN Business Council.

Since leaving school in 2005, Naik has worked for Coventry council, where he coordinated the city's Youth Opportunity Fund, taken a politics degree at Warwick University, chaired the British Youth Council and been the youngest member of the Learning and Skills Council.

He has also been a trustee of the national youth volunteering charity, co-authored Learner Voice (a publication commissioned by Nesta), is a governor of City College in Coventry, is trustee of the charity Changemakers, is a board member of the Big Lottery Fund and was appointed to the NHS Standing Commission on Carers.

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Subhash Thakrar

Subhash practiced as a professional chartered accountant for over 25 years and is actively involved in advising UK and international corporations.

He founded an equity fund investing in the Indian Equity Market and recently launched a real estate fund for India a jointly with Old Mutual Group of South Africa.

Subhash is the Vice-Chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce and was formerly the Chairman of the Asian Business Association in the UK. He has played a pivotal role in helping to promote London as a destination of choice for investors and international trade and encouraging two-way trade. His international experience and expertise makes him especially valuable when advising cross-border joint ventures. As part of his corporate social responsibilities, Subhash sits on the Board of a number of charities including a Commonwealth Education Fund, and 3R’s Trust. He is also a former Trustee of Attlee Foundation, set up for the well-being of deprived children in the UK. In 2005, Subhash was invited to join Prime Minister Blair’s business mission to India.

Subhash is a joint author to a number of publications including The UK as a Tax Haven (The Economist), The Blackstone Franks Good Investment Guide, Blackstone Franks Guide to Creating Cash and Blackstone Franks Guide to Living in Spain.

Nina Amin

Nina Amin is a Tax Partner at KPMG, one of the Big Four professional services firms in the UK and also heads up their Asian Markets. Nina is a qualified chartered accountant and works with family owned businesses, listed companies and multinational groups. She joined Andersen's to specialise in tax in 1981 and has been with KPMG since 1997. She has over 25 years of experience in providing commercial tax and financial advice across a broad range of areas and has won a number of awards.

She was awarded an MBE for services to the Asian Business community in 2013.

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Judging these

Charity Awards

By Subhash V Thakrar

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fter the success of the first Asian Voice Charity Awards powered by Charity Clarity, I am pleased that the event is taking place for the second year and based on the level of interest both from the charities applying and those attending the event, I am sure this event will now be an annual fixture.

As part of the Judging Panel, I feel honoured to be amongst an esteemed group of very experienced intellectuals who gave their valuable days in looking through the applications, deliberating on what were excellent applications within each award category and making that very hard decision to finally choose the winner.

The task becomes even more challenging when one assumes the responsibility of judging for the best amongst powerful applications and then systematically giving appropriate score for various attributes of the relevant charity. This took hours of time!

The judges were ably aided by the Asian Voice team who had organised the hard job of recording and collating all the applications which ran in to well over hundred.

Like last year Charity Clarity (www.charityclarity.org.uk) was the technical partner. It has proved to be an invaluable partner for the judges. All charity applications had to undergo the rigorous ratings analysis of Charity Clarity. This itself takes a few hours per charity which involves using 17 different objective criteria and processing through a special programmed algorithm. The rating scores can range from 8

Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

0 to of maximum a 5.

Charity Clarity is a unique independent charity rating body that provides an invaluable tool to all donors who may not wish to waste their donation and ensure that their donation is put to most effective use.

Any donor can look up the database of charities already rated by Charity Clarity, which amounts to over 500 charities today and select only the best rated ones to donate to.

The charities are also categorised by sectors and causes so that the donor can choose the cause he or she wishes to give to. Within each category, one can check the Charity Clarity rating and pick the highlyrated feeling sure that such charities have met good standards. These standards will include criteria such as good governance, training of trustees, up to date financial reporting, chief executive's cost versus funds generated, cost ratios etc.

For a donor, these are important matters that they often take for granted assuming that a UK registered charity must already be working with very high standards.

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Unfortunately, this is not the case. Today, there exist charities which will not even score 0 with Charity Clarity that still exist but are able to collect donations from innocent donors. Giving is a matter of one's emotional feelings. However increasingly donors also want to ensure that their donation reaches the very cause that they were emotionally attached to rather than the funds getting misused or utilised in administrative costs or poor governance. This is important.

All charities have a responsibility of good governance and proper accountability to enamour that the funds they collect are reflective of their cost base and that maximum funds are properly discharged for the cause they stand for. Who checks on this? Who ensures that they meet such high standards? It is when you ask such questions and you draw a blank with the answers. Some will assume that as the relevant charity is registered, the charity commission is the regulator. This is not the case. Charity Commission will investigate only major and extreme cases as there is a huge volume of charities that are registered.

Charity Commissions website show that as at 31 December 2016, there were 167,109 registered charities with total annual income of over ÂŁ73 billion.

Highest number of charities are small with annual income of less than ÂŁ10,000. Of course, Charity Commission is only able to look at what has happened or gone wrong.

This does serve useful purpose but it can only provide a reactive role based on what has been filed or not filed or when someone files a complaint. In an approximately 3-year period from 2011 to 2014 there were around 150 investigations conducted by the Commission.

Charity Clarity helps the donor to find out more before making the donation so that he or she can make an informed decision. So it is more forward looking.

Charity Clarity also enables well run

charities to have an opportunity to get an independent rating which they can use as a kite mark in their promotional activity as well as display on their web site.

No donor today should not make any donation without checking with Charity Clarity as it costs nothing. If relevant charity does not exist, then the donor should insist that the charity obtains an independent rating from Charity Clarity.

The judges have found the Charity Clarity ratings on all applicants incredibly helpful and essential tool in their work. Only the higher rated charities went on the short lists for the judges to deliberate on. After our independent judging, the panel sat together to further decide as a group. This was not an easy task and each one of us had to justify our decision to the others. I am happy to say that after some discussions we were able to reach a consensus.

The winners will of course enjoy the limelight of publicity but beyond that, a package of marketing, free consultation and other benefits. I wish the winners continued success in their good work. May the winners inspire others to strive to improve their standards. Clarity Clarity can help them with this. It is gratifying to see amazing array of charitable ideas and great people doing great work. That must always remain our ultimate goal.

Subhash V Thakrar was a Judge for Asian Voice Charity Awards powered by Charity Clarity. He has practised as a professional Chartered Accountant for over 25 years and is actively involved in advising UK and international corporations in conducting business in the UK as well as cross-border joint ventures. He has founded an equity fund investing in the Indian equity market and recently launched a real estate fund for India jointly with Old Mutual Group of South Africa.

He sits on the Board of the London Chamber of Commerce and was formerly the chairman of the Asian Business Association in the UK. Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

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START UP OF THE YEAR Rakkaposhi

Sponsored by

Rakkaposhi is an independent company limited by guarantee which started operating in December 2015. It was set up with support from the award winning QED Foundation, Bradford based charity facilitating the social and economic integration of new and settled migrant communities in UK since 1990. Rakkaposhi provides high quality coffee and home made cakes to the general public with the aim to make profits and then investing all profits in supporting the ESOL and integration courses run

by QED.

YYY Foundation

YYY Foundation was set up in response to the spontaneous donations that flowed into the Bath based Nepalese restaurant owned by founding trustees Sera and Sarah Gurung. The Foundation is committed to rebuilding and equipping schools for poor and marginalised communities in rural Nepal.

It is run by a mixed group of Nepalese and British personnel, all of whom have a unique understanding of the cultures of the communities they work with.

YYY Foundation is staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers.

One Kind Act

One Kind Act (OKA) was officially registered by the Charity's Commission in January 2015. They are a young, non profit-making charity which aims to change the lives of those in need and who suffer due to poverty of health, nutrition and education. Their aim is to help bring about sustainable change to communities who otherwise fall through the net of the support of large fundraising charities. They raise funds through monetary donations and by encouraging supporters to host fund-raising events. With minimal overheads and costs, they ensure that almost all of the monies raised reaches those it is intended for.

Equip Africa Charitable Trust

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EquipAfrica is a new charity founded by nine undergraduate students with a shared vision to improve the quality of healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa. They equip clinics and hospitals in desperate need of basic medical equipments and also train staff to use those. The charity empowers the community to properly provide for itself and maintain sustainable practices. Since their launch, EquipAfrica has raised over ÂŁ5,000 and completed two projects in Nigeria and Chad. They have had continued support and worked in partnership with Lifebox and the International Medical Corp to build the foundation of the projects.

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Sponsored by

Providence Row

MOST ENTERPRISING

Providence Row is a homeless charity tackling the root causes of homelessness to help people get off, and stay off, the streets. Last year more than 1,300 people used their services. Working with people to build skills and confidence is the key to their success and they do this through trainee schemes, language classes and employment support.

They also provide support for mental health and addiction issues and help people to rejoin the community, and return to their home communities and families, in the UK and abroad.

Akademi

Akademi is a London-based South Asian dance charity, working in producing and showing high quality performers along with delivering strong and impactful community and educational programmes in diverse settings. Since 1979, Akademi has developed a reputation for creating visually stunning work. As a small, dynamic and energetic charity they have a mission to advocate for the cultural, social values, aesthetics and traditions of South Asian dance forms. They work with national festivals and leading venues but also hospitals, libraries, schools and urban settings, offer learning and participation opportunities to young people, families, older adults and patients, as well as people with dementia, heart and lung disease.

Rise

As an international development charity, RISE offers programmes in the UK and India. In India, they work with the most disadvantaged children in rural areas. These students are first generation learners and most likely to drop out of school. They believe that inspiring education can change their lives so we invest our time in free literacy classes, family support and empowerment programmes in areas of great need. In the UK, RISE runs a social enterprise programme, The ROAR Challenge, that focuses on youth social action, global citizenship, and acquiring employability skills. RISE is unique in building partnerships between UK and Indian students directly.

Netball Development Trust

Netball Development Trust (NDT) is the only charity in the world exclusively using netball to support and educate young women and girls with their sexual and reproductive health and rights. As a UK registered charity, NDT focuses on creating access and encouraging freedom of play in youth around the world. The netball is used as a tool to bring communities together, where, with their partners they deliver 'sexual and reproductive health and rights' (SRHR) education and solutions. NDT's Kenya project, for example, provides sanitary pads for some of the girls who participate in the netball programme. In Jinja, Uganda, NDT works with a local charity partner who delivers life skills to local underprivileged children through netball.

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SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD

Sponsored by

Akademi

Akademi is a London-based South Asian dance charity, working in producing and showing high quality performers along with delivering strong and impactful community and educational programmes in diverse settings. Since 1979, Akademi has developed a reputation for creating visually stunning work. As a small, dynamic and energetic charity they have a mission to advocate for the cultural, social values, aesthetics and traditions of South Asian dance forms. They work with national festivals and leading venues but also hospitals, libraries, schools and urban settings, offer learning and participation opportunities to young people, families, older adults and patients, as well as people with dementia, heart and lung disease.

LDN Research Trust

The LDN Research Trust has been around for 14 years and has helped over 26,000 patients, doctors and pharmacists worldwide in providing information, education, support and guidance in regards to the little known medication low dose naltrexone (LDN). LDN is a life saving and life altering medication that is helping over 200 auto immune conditions – including cancer and MS – in fact – in many cases, putting people into remission. As it works on the endocrine system it is even being used successfully as part of fertility treatment. It costs less than £20 a month and isn't patented.

)The Graham Layton Trust

The Graham Layton Trust is a charity set up by its founder, the late philanthropist, industrialist and decorated officer Graham Layton.

Over the next 30 years, Graham Layton OBE developed one of the largest and most successful construction companies in Pakistan.

Minded by desperate levels of curable but untreated blindness and visual impairment across Pakistan, he established the Graham Layton Trust (GLT) in the UK and – with his great friend Zaka Rahmatulla – established its sister charity, the Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust (LRBT) in Pakistan in 1984 to deliver eye care across Pakistan.

Veterans Aid

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Veterans Aid, founded in 1932, is an operational, frontline charity. It exists to provide immediate, practical support for ex-servicemen and women in crisis – regardless of age, rank, length of service, gender, ethnicity or religion. It is non-judgmental and outcome-focused. Its mantra is Churchill's 'Action this Day' because 'tomorrow' is too late for individuals facing problems like hunger and street homelessness. VA's primary objective is prevention, that are particularly cost-effective. Its commitment is to break cycles of dependency and ensuring that every veteran seeking its help, whether a single mother or an octogenarian, is given effective and timely support.

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The prestigious Asian Achievers Awards is hosted every year by UK’s leading news weeklies Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar to honour British Asians par excellence.

Opportunities: n Sponsorship n Table Booking n Advertising For more information please call 020 7749 4085 If there is someone you know who has broken boundaries and deserves recognition for their unique contribution to the community and the nation then please nominate them for one of the awards.

For nomination form please visit www.asianachieversawards.com

ABPL Group

Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market (Coronet Street) London N1 6HW

Tel: 020 7749 4085

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MOST INSPIRING INDIVIDUAL Susan Helen Fisher

Sponsored by

Helen had been a secondary school teacher for 22 years in Liverpool schools but had given up her career to care for her Husband. Helen joined Liverpool Community Advice in 2009 as a volunteer. Following the death of her Husband, Helen secured employment with Liverpool Community Advice as a Financial Capability Trainer working with vulnerable people and realised that the Deaf community in Liverpool were a very financially excluded group. Helen secured funding from Money Advice Trust to deliver one-to-one advice and support and group training sessions with these communities and create accessible resources.

Dr Naresh Sharma

Dr. Naresh Sharma is the Chairman for Chitakoot Project. In December 2016, he along with a team travelled to India to run the charity's 4th successful plastic surgery camp. Over 70 cleft and burns procedures were performed over two weeks and the local children and adults were incredibly grateful for the opportunity to live a normal life. Dr Sharma has 20 years’ experience of Oral Surgery in Hospital Dentistry and 18 years in Implant Dentistry. He is on the teaching faculty for the Diploma in Implant Dentistry at the RCS England, of which he is the Director of the Diploma course in Leeds.

Meenal Sachdev

Meenal is Head of Sustainability at Shiva Hotels and Founder and Director of Shiva Foundation, a corporate foundation working to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking in the UK. She is also the first Indian woman to be elected as Local Councillor at Hertsmere Borough Council and is on the board of several other charities both in the UK and India. As a British Indian with an understanding of the role culture and identity plays in social change, she is particularly interested the role of the British Asian community in upholding their values to support social change.

Kiran Bali

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Kiran Bali MBE JP, is an international interfaith leader, CEO, Non Executive Director, keynote speaker, women's activist and social entrepreneur. Kiran has a record of extraordinary achievement and a proven track record of substantial leadership experience. Her exceptional voluntary social contribution to the community was recognised by Her Majesty the Queen in 2007 through the MBE honour and her appointment to high profile leadership positions in her 20's. Kiran is a shining example of a role model who has promoted the welfare and social cohesion within British society and globally, through the advancement of inclusion and minority community integration into mainstream society.

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Sponsored by

Anxiety UK

CHARITY OF THE YEAR

Anxiety UK was established in 1970 by an individual with personal experience of agoraphobia for those affected by anxiety disorders. Today the charity is still a user-led organisation, run by people with experience of living with anxiety, stress or anxiety-based depression, supported by a highprofile medical and clinical advisory panel. Anxiety UK works to relieve and support those living with anxiety and anxiety-based depression by providing information, support and understanding via an extensive range of services, including 1:1 therapy support services. They work regularly with external agencies and healthcare professionals to raise awareness of these conditions.

The Kaleidoscope Plus Group

The Kaleidoscope Plus Group is a leading Midlands based Health and Wellbeing charity, currently working in ten different local authorities.

Established in 1973, they were originally affiliated to the national mental health charity 'Mind' and were known as 'Sandwell Mind'. The organisation aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing of people in a number of ways from residential reablement, floating support and supported housing. In addition they also provide talking therapies, training and community well being services offering CBT therapy and variety of activities for all age groups.

Lepra

Lepra, is a UK-based international charity working to beat leprosy. Lepra works directly with communities in Bangladesh, India and Mozambique to find, diagnose, treat and rehabilitate people affected by leprosy.

Through raising awareness, pushing for early detection and reducing stigma they support people so they can escape poverty and transform their lives. Last year, they reached more than 279,900 people directly through diagnosis, treatment and care and reached a further 2.3 million people through health education and events to raise awareness of the symptoms and cure available.

Savitri Waney Charitable Trust

Savitri Waney Charitable Trust (Savitri) was started by Arjun Waney, an entrepreneur, renowned restaurateur and philanthropist, in 2001, after decades of philanthropic giving where he felt that 'money was often thrown into a big pot, but there was no certainty and little information on outcomes'. Over the last 15 years Savitri has helped millions of people.

One of their largest programs is around cataract blindness –where they have funded tens of thousands of eye screening camps in remote locations, millions of eye assessments and 280,000 cataract surgeries.

They also do a lot of work to enhance the status of girls in Bihar.

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Market Financial Solutions Bridging with finesse

MARKET FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS AWARD WINNING BRIDGING LENDERS

020 7060 1234

info@mfsuk.com

www.mfsuk.com

Berkeley Square House, Mayfair, London W1J 6BD

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Associate Lender Association of Bridging Professionals

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IN-HOUSE FUNDING

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IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY

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SPECIALISTS IN COMPLEX LOANS

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BESPOKE FLEXIBLE BRIDGING SOLUTIONS

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MARKET-LEADING INTERMEDIARY INCENTIVES

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TRANSPARENT, APPROACHABLE PROFESSIONALS

As seen in:

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EXCELLENCE IN CSR

Goldman Sachs

Sponsored by

Since 2008, Goldman Sachs has committed in excess of $1.6 billion to philanthropic initiatives. By supporting programs that help solve crucial social and environmental issues, they aim to commit themselves to taking philanthropic action based on discipline, innovation and a strategic approach over the long term. Goldman Sachs works with over 100 academic and nonprofit partners and is routinely among the leaders identified in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. In 2011, one of Goldman Sachs’ philanthropic programs, '10,000 Women', received the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy’s coveted Chairman’s Award.

Nationwide Building Society

The Nationwide Foundation is a registered charity which was set up in 1997. They provide its funding as a quarter of the 1% of pre-tax profit that they agreed to donate to charitable causes from April 2008. The ‘Living on your side’ objectives are reflected in the Nationwide Foundation’s strategy. Nationwide has worked with Shelter for 15 years.

In 2012 they launched a new four year partnership worth £1 million, a sum that they’ll raise through a mixture of Nationwide donations and fundraising by the employees and members. The goal of the partnership was to help 16,000 people into a home of their own between 2012 and 2016 through the funding of Shelter’s housing and advice services.

Microsoft

Forbes article ranked Microsoft as the company with the best CSR reputation. Business Backs Education ranked it as the fourth best in the world in terms of CSR spending, behind Oracle, Astrazeneca and Halliburton. According to a report, while it is straightforward to identify the many multi-year commitments to philanthropic causes made by Microsoft, the company treats its education-related expenditure as part of its approach to business. Therefore, its activities in education are largely not covered in terms of definitions of CSR spending. This is likewise with other leading technology companies such as Google and Facebook.

Greggs

Greggs has put social responsibility at the heart of its business since the 1960s and now supports charities in three main ways: raising money for the Greggs Foundation, supporting other charity initiatives and giving staff time off to volunteer.

Greggs raised about £1.1m for the Greggs Foundation in 2015, of which £650,000 came from its pre-tax profits and £450,000 from fundraising in its shops. Last year, the firm raised more than £1m for other national charity initiatives, including £865,000 for BBC Children in Need, £170,000 for the Poppy Appeal and £71,000 for the Ebola Crisis Appeal.

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LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Lord Jeffrey Archer

Lord Jeffrey Archer has topped the bestseller lists around the world, with sales of over 330 million copies in 97 countries and more than 37 languages. He is the only author ever to have been a number one bestseller in fiction (nineteen times), short stories (four times) and non-fiction (The Prison Diaries). He gained a Blue in Athletics at Oxford, was President of the University Athletics Club, and went on to run the 100 yards in 9.6 seconds for Great Britain in 1966. Jeffrey has served five years in the House of Commons and twenty-five years as a Member of the House of Lords. His latest novel THIS WAS A MAN, was published in paperback in May this year and is the seventh and final volume of The Clifton Chronicles which have topped the bestseller lists around the world. His new book of short stories, TELL TALE, will be published in November. In the late 1960s as a young MP, Jeffrey organised a concert at the Royal Festival Hall, in aid of the United World Colleges. The ‘Night of nights’ starred Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope, and was compared by Grace Kelly. A year later for the same charity, he put on an evening with Marlene Dietrich, and a night at the Albert Hall with Yehudi Menuhin. And in 1991, Jeffrey Archer was co-ordinator of the Simple Truth Appeal which raised some £57 million for the Campaign for Kurdish Relief, which focussed world-wide attention on the plight of the Kurdish people.

For the past 21 years, he has also been an amateur auctioneer, giving his time free of charge to conduct around 30 charity auctions a year, and has raised more than thirty million pounds for a huge number of charities, including the Red Cross, The Prince’s Trust, Sir Magdi Yacoub’s Chain of Hope, the Australian Flying Doctor Service, Leukaemia Research, The Variety Club, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Cancer Research, and the Asian Achievers Awards charity, as well as at high profile sporting events and players’ Testimonials, such as the Rugby Player of the Year Awards, and for the England cricket team.

Jeffrey completed the Flora London Marathon on April 18th 2004, in 5 hours 26 minutes, raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation UK, the British Heart Foundation, the Fund for Addenbrooke’s and the Facial Surgery Research Foundation. He was overtaken by a camel, a phone-box and a girl walking. He has no plans to repeat the experience.

He has been married to Dame Mary Archer, Chairman of the Science Museum Group, for 51 years, and they have two sons, two grandsons, and a new granddaughter.

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A model to create social impact while minimising overhead costs

By Amir Ullah Khan & Ulhas Vairagkar

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ndependent national survey done by the ASER centre, an, autonomous assessment, survey, evaluation, and research unit within the Pratham network, shows a grim picture of the status of quality of education in India.

Though the Right to Education Act 2002, which lists education as a fundamental right of every child, has made sure 97% students are enrolled in school, the reality of education being given to these students is much different.

E&H Foundation was set up in 2013 with the clearly stated purpose of providing high quality education and access to health care for the poor children in India.

According to ASER Report 2016, more than 73% children in Grade 8 in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) cannot do simple division despite 52% children being enrolled in private schools.

The indicators tell their tale, UP has some of the most abject poverty levels and children suffer most because of the absence of quality public services. Large numbers of young children are out of school, haven’t been vaccinated and are malnourished.

Farrukhabad district in western UP is a large district with its headquarters in a dusty industrial town. It is known for its weaving and embroidery work. Like most handicrafts in the modern world, this dying art has few patrons but is the only skill that the workforce here can boast of. As a result, many people work in abysmal conditions like poorly lit rooms for 12 hours a day for only $100 a month.

Children therefore cannot afford to attend school even if the fee in most private institutions is less than a dollar a month. The government schools are in shambles, Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

teachers face little accountability, and students are usually absent. It is this context that the E&H Foundation seeks to address by providing high quality education to children in the slums in urban areas and in remote villages where quality education is an unattainable dream for the poor.

The education crisis in India is a crisis of scale and number. The E&H Foundation works on two simple beliefs. First, there are great number of successful and proven models and a new model is not needed to create impact at a large scale. Hence the charity partners with successful, effective, and scalable models on the ground achieve low cost intervention over a large area – both geographically and numerically. Second, India has large number of socially conscious citizens and corporates, motivated to support positive action to benefit bottom of the pyramid population. Therefore, the E&H Foundation acts as an, enabler to link the resources with action to benefit underprivileged children and their families in India, starting with UP. Both these beliefs have been key in

20-21Amir Ullah Khan.qxp_A4 Temp 12/05/2017 16:09 Page 21

helping E&H Foundation create a large-scale impact in a short period of time, while keeping the overhead costs of the operation at a minimum.

The other important aspect of the E&H model is that Trustees fund all operating costs incurred to run the programme and will do so indefinitely. This ensures the entire amount raised from donors and supporters goes directly to the programme. As we are only in the fourth year of our operations, our administrative costs are as high as 20%, but by funding them internally we guarantee efficiency and better integrity for the donors’ money.

Even at maturity of our programmes, we are committed to keep our costs as low as 67% while also making sure none of it is charged to the donors. This not only makes for clean budgeting but also enhances credibility among the retail and corporate donors who would like to see maximum impact of their contributions.

We help provide quality education to about 13,000 school children today and aim

to reach more than 100,000 children in the next five years, while upholding our pledge to keep all our administrative costs at a minimum.

Amir Ullah Khan is a Trustee at the E&H Foundation. He is a leading economist based in Delhi and has worked as a researcher for the European Commission, National Council for Applied Economic Research, Planning Commission, the World Bank and has written on economy and policy issues. For the EU, he worked on Agricultural trade and the impact of Sanitary and Phyto sanitary measures, and has also worked for Oxfam, Ashoka foundation and others in the past on development issues.

Ulhas Vairagkar is an Advisory Board Member at the E&H Foundation. He is a graduate of IIM-Ahmedabad and worked for 20+ years with Hindustan Lever, ICI and Berger Paints. He left his corporate job to start T.I.M.E. – a coaching institute at New Delhi, India in 2001. T.I.M.E. Delhi has trained more than 15,000 students and helped more than 300 of its students to get admission in IIMs.

E&H Foundation aims to reach more than 100,000 children in the next five years

Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

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22-23 Paul Parashar.qxp_A4 Temp 12/05/2017 14:19 Page 22

Understanding the value of the arts

By Paul Parashar

I

22

t is difficult to believe that we are approaching ten years since the financial crisis which rocked economies around the world. The subsequent economic crash and fiscal austerity placed huge challenges on many sectors, but the impact on the fragile ecology of the arts in Britain, which had seen sustained public and private investment in the preceding years, has been mixed.

Income streams, from grant funding to sponsorship and ticket sales, have been under severe downward pressure for many years – placing a huge strain on the workforce to deliver more with less, and organisations that have been overly reliant on one source of income have had to completely remodel their business or face extinction.

At the same time, it is very clear that Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

artistic ambitions, and the desire to reach larger, more diverse audiences, have rarely been stronger.

The resilience of the arts sector is testament to many things: dynamic and visionary leadership, an eagerness to grab new creative opportunities, adaptability, and a careful balance between idealism and pragmatism.

I am proud to chair Akademi, an organisation that I believe demonstrates all of these qualities. Akademi is a flagship national organisation for British-made South Asian dance. We have a clear vision: to see South Asian dance placed at the heart of the UK’s cultural life. We do this by investing in artists, by creating extraordinary performances in venues from shopping centres to national landmarks, and by giving people the opportunity to learn and participate in dance.

22-23 Paul Parashar.qxp_A4 Temp 12/05/2017 14:19 Page 23

Akademi has a small staff team, but a flexible and multi-skilled one. Its programmes are grounded in rigorous research and a deep understanding of the needs of those we work with. This rootedness enables us to bring a unique and meaningful perspective to our funders and partners, whether in our pioneering Dance Well programme (funded by Big Lottery) which reaches older adults with long-term health conditions and those experiencing loneliness and isolation, or our artist development projects which offer tailored career-boosting support to dancers and choreographers.

The breadth of our partnerships, across a huge range of sectors including arts, healthcare, schools, higher education, community engagement, means we can respond to a diverse set of agendas and tap into funding opportunities beyond traditional arts sources.

Commercial opportunities are also a growing part of our business model. Our artistic vision enables us to create unique experiences for a wide range of clients – and reinvest the income in our charitable programme.

For arts organisations, a sustainable future means balancing this plurality, commercial instinct and sense of adventure with a strong and consistent core purpose. We must embed an entrepreneurial ethos within the sector and support our creative leaders to take risks. We must develop deeper, crosssector partnerships and strengthen our understanding of

our audiences and beneficiaries. Relevance is vital –we must invest in innovative ideas and future talent.

Whatever the economic and political challenges ahead, all of us who understand the value of the arts must work together to ensure the richness and diversity of the UK’s creative talent continues to thrive on the world stage.

Paul Parashar is Chair is Akademi’s Board of Trustees. He has over 30 years’ experience in the advertising business working with major agency groups and TV Stations. He has been working across Europe for the last 10 years and travels intensively. He has been a trustee of Akademi for 3 years and enjoys the connection to his Asian roots. He takes great pleasure working with a very committed team.

Paul lives in Bath, Somerset, with his wife and two children and loves long walks with his dog! He is a keen sportsman who enjoys spending time with his children most weekends.

Our vision: to see South Asian dance at the heart of UK's cultural life

Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

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24-25 Richard Brownsdon .qxp_A4 Temp 12/05/2017 14:20 Page 24

What Comes First:

The Social or The Enterprise?

By Richard Brownsdon

I

24

know what you are thinking. They come together. That's what social enterprise is all about. A business model that ties in social outcomes with the business operations in perfect harmony. The two are inextricably linked; otherwise it would be a charity that trades, or a business that does corporate social responsibility.

I would like to argue that there is another way. The journey to social enterprise can be a process, and we should encourage and celebrate that. When does a charity with a trading arm become a social enterprise? And how much social value does a business have to add before it can be called a social enterprise?

We have some answers for some of these questions. Some people say that a business is a social enterprise when at least 50% of the profits go towards social Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

improvement.

Having coached and supported more than 250 social enterprises for more than half a decade, and through running my own business, I can tell you that in the early months and years, every pound of cash flow is vital. Without adequate cash flow for maintenance of operations and growth, any business, or charity will cease to exist.

I've seen many startup social enterprises struggle with this when getting started. It can be extremely hard to give away that much in the early days when you need it for sustenance of your own life and enterprise.

The UK has a great social investment sector, but what about those entrepreneurs that don't want outside investors?

I think there is another path that isn't talked about enough. That is the path of gradually incorporating social values and benefits in your entire business as you grow.

It is within this category that some of the

24-25 Richard Brownsdon .qxp_A4 Temp 12/05/2017 14:21 Page 25

largest contributors of social value sit. Small social enterprises are great. But if we want growth in the sector, we need large social enterprises.

I don't mind if you started off as an enterprise, and added the social later, and I don't think anyone else should either. I believe that if enough socially minded people build businesses, they will eventually put the “social� in their enterprises when they can.

I don't think we should expect people to build perfect social enterprises from day one.

It's just too hard most of the time. I've seen it. People sacrifice salary for social benefit.

That's not sustainable. Build a business that works, and add the social values as you grow. Trying to get everything perfect from day one will kill you.

It's just too hard for most new

bootstrapped businesses to have a completely social supply chain, carbon neutral offices, organic, fair trade and locally sourced everything.

So go out there. Be a business for a bit.

Get some money coming in. Know your purpose and your goals, and don't worry if you are not perfect yet. You can be perfect later. For now, just get started, and keep going. We need your ideas in the world.

Richard Brownsdon is a writer, (social) enterprise coach, and entrepreneur. He runs his own location independent ecommerce business, is a published author, and international award-winning blogger. He has supported more than 250 individual startups through one-to-one coaching, crowdfunding and investment training programmes. Learn more at RichardBrownsdon.com.

Be a business for a bit. Get some money coming in Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

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26-Adrian Ashton .qxp_A4 Temp 12/05/2017 14:21 Page 1

Is the honeymoon over for CICs?

By Adrian Ashton

I

26

’ll begin by outing myself (again) on the subject of Community Interest Companies (CICs) – I’ve personally never been a big fan of them for all sorts of reasons that include them not offering any features that are truly unique, are generally not advantageous in securing income, usually allow very weak governance to emerge, and offer little security for their Members and Directors in light of their regulators’ powers to overrule them.

But I have supported some clients to gain this ‘hallowed status’ and am always pleased (really!) when an enterprise proves me wrong on why it’s the best form for them to adopt.

However, I’m wondering of the wider world may be catching up with me now in light of trending data published by the CIC Regulator themselves that suggests CICs may be increasingly seen as a ‘bad apple’ by those who set them up, and those they engage with.

You see, I’m a geek in oh, so many things, but particularly in the governance of organisations of all types, and as a result, find the annual reports from regulatory bodies fascinating reading. And despite my personal misgivings about the CIC form, I’ve always said that the CIC Regulator published perhaps the best designed and most accessible annual report of all the regulators. And this year I decided to dig into some of the stats they publish in a little more detail – I looked at the period 2011/12 to 2013/14 (3 years) to see what trends there might be amongst CICs that are emerging and it’s not an encouraging picture: l as context, over the last 3 years, the total numbers of CICs have increased by 44%; l but last year, over 10% of all CICs on the Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

register were wound up – a figure that’s also growing year on year (and has floated around the 9% mark in previous years); l and the biggest reason (70%) for CICs being wound up is that they’ve been struck off the public register by Companies House for failing to meet their associated statutory legal duties! – which amongst other things means that the Directors of them may subsequently face difficulties with being able to act as Directors or Trustees of other organisations as well as against their own personal credit ratings; l and the number of formal complaints being made about CICs to the CIC regulator has also been doubling year on year as a proportion of all CICs on the register So – is all well in the land of CICs? More are currently registered every year than are being wound up, but the trends in each suggest that most CICs currently don’t make it past five years. And with a growing trend of CICs failing to fulfil their basic statutory legal responsibilities, it’s perhaps illustrative that many are adopting this legal form on the basis of poorly informed advice and guidance. It also perhaps suggests that CICs are approaching a plateau in terms of their prevalence, and are not in fact the ‘magic bullet’ to solving the sectors’ woes and concerns that many have presented them as being?

Adrian Ashton is an associate trainer for charities and social enterprises with the Greater Manchester NCVO, and works with the Social Investment Business.

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Look Back

ASIAN VOICE CHARITY AWARDS 2016

Winner Natwest (Phil Northey) with Shashi Shah (Director, Edwardian Group) and Col Tom Yori Griffiths CBE (British Army)

Gurudev Jassi (Sunrise Radio) with Winner London Air Ambulance (Alice Gray), Seema Malhotra MP

Santosh Vishwakarma with Winner Priya Varadrajan (Durga), Manjunath Vishwakarma (Aaditya Karma Group)

28

Nitin Ganatra (Actor) with Winner Polio Children (Arun Patel and Mayoor Patel) Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

Winner Shanti Life (Shamir Shah) with Tony Matharu (Grange Hotels)

Navin Shah AM with Winner Saracins (collected by Lizzie Hulton- Harrop from The Big Give on behalf of Sarasins), Subhash Thakrar

Rajay Naik with winner Magic Bus (Bim Sandhu), Kate Marsh

Lord Raj Loomba with Winner of New Philanthropy Capital (Rachel Wharton) and Alok Sharma MP

Manoj Nair (Red Girraffe) with Winner My Life Films (Carolin-Marie Roth & Jorg Roth)

Winner Mahmood Ahmadu with HE Prof. Joyce Kakuramatsi Kikafunda (High Commissioner of the Republic of Uganda to the UK & Ireland) and CB Patel

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30 Credit box.qxp_A4 Temp 15/05/2017 10:36 Page 30

Ainaugural Awards, Charity Clarity hosted Some photos a two-day charity training with investment Sarasin & Partners at their offices from Charity Clarity inmanagers St Pauls. Alongside the charities and social enterprises that attended included training for 2016 Magic Bus, My Life Films, Polio Children, s a prize for the winners of last year’s

Award winners

Editor/Publisher: CB Patel Chief Executive Officer: L. George Managing Editor: Kokila Patel Associate Editor: Rupanjana Dutta News Editor: Kamal Rao Deputy Editor: Urja Patel Special Features Editor: Smita Sarkar Consulting Editor: Jyotsna Shah Advertising Manager: Kishor Parmar Head of Sales & Marketing: Rovin George Head - New Projects & Business Development: Cecil Soans Graphic Designers: Harish Dahya & Ajay Kumar Customer Service: Ragini Nayak Asian Business Publications Ltd Karma Yoga Houes 12 Hoxton Market, London N1 6HW Tel: 020 7749 4085 www.abplgroup.com

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Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar - 2017

Shanti Life, AgriLedger, Asian Circle, Good Works, GB Foundation and Gwalior Children’s Charity.

This two-day event was intended to provide the attendees with value and insight into how they may be able to further grow their respective charities.

It covered investment management, trustee training, social impact measurement, sentiment analysis, digital marketing, free legal services for charities and using Google effectively.

The 2017 winners will receive similar training and we hope it will be of great benefit to them.

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