Our Founder - Rumi Verjee
As an immigrant from East Africa I arrived in the UK with little more than a good education and a desire to succeed. Thirty years on as a self-made entrepreneur, I feel very fortunate to be in a position where I can give something back to my adopted country and give expression to the philanthropic spirit that has shaped my family’s cultural DNA for many generations.
Giving back has always been an essential expression of my family’s ethos, and I was raised with the understanding that, with success, comes the responsibility to act with compassion and generosity.
The Rumi Foundation is a natural continuation of my family’s tradition of charitable giving in India, East Africa and now in the United Kingdom – and I look forward to seeing it evolve in the years and generations to come.
Rumi Verjee
About Rumi Verjee
Rumi Verjee is a highly successful entrepreneur and the proprietor and chairman of Thomas Goode & Co, based in London’s Mayfair. He founded Domino’s Pizza in the United Kingdom and is the Chairman of Brompton Capital Limited and Ipanema Properties in Brazil. His success is entirely self-made: a fourth generation Indian born in Uganda, much of the Verjee family’s assets were seized by Idi Amin’s regime. Rumi studied Law at Downing College, University of Cambridge where he is now an Honorary Fellow, and after the expulsion of the Asian population from Uganda, made the UK his home.
Lord Verjee has always shared his success and knowledge through philanthropic work. He is Chairman of Free the Children UK and co-hosts their annual signature event We Day UK with Holly Branson. He is also a Member of the World Presidents’ Organization, the Global Leadership Foundation and was on the Advisory Board of the British Olympic Association for the London 2012 Olympic Games. In 2009 Rumi was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for charitable services. In September 2013, Rumi was appointed by HM The Queen to the United Kingdom House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat Peer, where he sits as Lord Verjee of Portobello in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
The Trustees
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JAY VERJEE
Chairman
Jay Verjee is the Chairman of The Rumi Foundation and manages the foundation’s endowment. He was born in Kenya and brought up in Canada.
After receiving a Double First in Law from the University of Cambridge, Jay went on to work for Linklaters, one of the world’s largest corporate law firms. Since then he has worked within the Verjee Family Office, managing an array of family real estate and other investments in the UK, Europe, North and South America and Africa. In 2011, Jay graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School as a Baker Scholar.
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BRENT POLLARD
Trustee
Brent Pollard has had a highly successful career as a consultant, businessman and entrepreneur. After a short stint as a cricketer he went into Corporate Finance specialising in distressed asset situations, with over 100 transactions collectively exceeding over USD1 billion that has seen him take on 46 board appointments both in Public and Private Companies mainly in the UK but also in several countries around the world. He left the banking world to set up his own consultancy and, over a number of years, acquired and successfully ran numerous businesses that ranged from a chain of nursing homes to commercial real estate.
In 1997 he and his wife acquired Whitbread Hop Farm and turned it from a loss-making site to a prime visitor attraction and venue. Voted Kent Business of the year, Brent sold Whitbread Hop Farm in 2006.
Brent has recently returned from 8 years living in Perth Western Australia, where he has active interests in fine dining restaurants, wine wholesaling and property development and has settled with his family in Bath, Somerset.
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DAVID MURIITHI
Trustee
Based in Nairobi, David Muriithi is Managing Director of Creative Enterprise Centre, a regional capacity building initiative whose main focus is formulating and implementing various business capacity building strategies that enhance the creative industry within Africa. He is consulted widely across the continent on matters connected with trade and industry in creativity and creative products. A champion of private-public sector partnerships, David has also been contracted by both various Governments and NGOs to help them address long term sustainability issues. He also sits as a board member on The Kenya Copyright Board.
After graduating from University of Manchester with a B.A. Econ, he began his career as an auditor for Ernst & Young in London and later in Kenya. He subsequently joined and also currently heads up the family real estate business, which operates in East and South Africa.