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In July 2018, The Rumi Foundation welcomed A Blueprint for Better Business and guest of honour the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, to a dinner at the RAC Club in London.
The event was attended by top business leaders, as well as members of the Blueprint family. Guests heard from a number of speakers, all of whom have committed to doing business the wider Blueprint way.
More about Blueprint for Better Business can be found here.
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Alongside campaigner Mark Bergman, Rumi Verjee welcomed David Simas, the Chief Executive of the Obama Foundation to Thomas Goode and Co in April 2018.
When President Obama finished his term in office as President of the United States in 2017, he quickly set about building his legacy. From this, the Obama Foundation was born.
You can find out more here.
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In January 2018, Lord Verjee shared his views on his Lessons in life and business at a small question and answer session with London’s Ismaili community at Thomas Goode and Co.
Lord Verjee told a standing-room only crowd about his journey through life. The audience listened to highlights from his career, including how he successfully brought the Domino’s Pizza franchise to the United Kingdom. Lord Verjee also shared his thoughts on the future. He discussed the potential impact of Brexit, and how technology could change our world.
You can find out more about the evening here.
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Sat Singh grew up in one of the most disadvantaged areas of London. He had a severe health condition, and had to spend his formative years caring for family members, all while trying to complete his GCSEs. Sat decided to use his own experience to think about how he might help other people in similar positions. Together with a group of friends, Sat organised for a series of talks in a local fast-food restaurant from inspirational community speakers, and Renaissance Foundation was born.
The movement became a charity and went from strength to strength. They began to take groups of young people to Oslo for the Noble Peace Prize ceremony, a tradition they continue today. They have received funding from the Prince’s Trust and were even invited to Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister.
You can find out more here.
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Across the globe, the Clinton Foundation continues to drive change, empower communities and fight for our natural world. Whether it’s fighting to improve the lives of women and girls today, or by ensuring that our forests and oceans are protected for future generations, the Clinton Foundation shares many common values and ideals with the Rumi Foundation.
In October 2017, Rumi Verjee welcomed President Clinton back to London. A group of supporters discussed the great work of the Clinton Foundation, work that the Rumi Foundation is proud to have supported for many years.
You can find out more about our partnership with the Clinton Foundation here.
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We rightly invest so much of our time and money in the education of the next generation. It’s a no-brainer: we want to see our families succeed, and we want to prepare the custodians of our planet, our children, for the future. Yet we don’t invest as much time and energy into thinking about the space in which those young people are educated. Too often, dry unexciting buildings and learning environments mean disengaged children, not fulfilling their potential.
The WE Global Learning Centre in Toronto seeks to change this. This state-of-the-art facility has been set up by the Canadian charity WE to inspire children and young people, and to encourage them to give something back to their community. It’s an engaging technological marvel, which the Rumi Foundation is proud to have backed and help make a reality.
You can find out more here.
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The exclusion of any child from school is a tragedy. It wastes potential talent and costs the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds each year. Excluded children are more likely to be unemployed, or even involved in criminal activity. There has to be a better, preventative approach.
Based near Bath, Jamie’s Farm works with children at risk of exclusion; seeking to enthuse and inspire them and to re-engage with their many positive qualities.
You can find out more about Jamie’s Farm here.
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In April 2017, Lord Rumi Verjee, along with Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep, hosted a dinner to raise awareness of the Think Equal foundation.
Less than twelve months ago, and deeply affected by the story of rape victim Jyoti Singh, as told in her film India’s Daughter, the BAFTA and multi award winning film producer Leslee Udwin founded Think Equal. The charity’s projects on the ground in Sri Lanka have already gained government support, and illustrate perfectly that Think Equal shares The Rumi Foundation’s guiding principle that children of all genders, ethnicities, religions and other backgrounds have optimal opportunities to develop their full potential, have their views respected, respect one another, live free of discrimination and violence, become youth leaders, and active participants of a free and equal world.
This video sees Meryl Streep set out the reach and remit of Think Equal in ways that are both informative and inspiring.
You can read more about the dinner here.
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On the 16th of November 2016, the Foundation hosted a memorial event dedicated to the Tompkins Conservation to remember, to reflect upon, and to celebrate too, the huge impact Doug Tompkins had on the world. The guests re-affirmed their commitment to continue the work that Doug and Kris Tompkins have inspired and this is the greatest legacy that Doug can have.
In the early 60’s Doug founded the fashion brand The North Face, but sold it so that he could pursue his love of adventure film making. Later, with his then wife, he founded the global fashion brand Esprit; and in the late 80s he took the brave decision to sell this business too, and to put the profits into conservation. By the time of his death, Doug, with his wife Kris, had become the largest private landowner on the planet, with 6.2 million hectares under management; much of it ceded to the governments of Chile and Argentina as National Parks and the balance actively managed as the realisation of his interest in sustainable organic agriculture.
Read more about the event here.
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Founded by Liam Hackett, Ditch the Label was launched on the back of a fundamental belief that there is no room for discrimination or prejudice in society and that through education we can create a more tolerant, inclusive, caring world. Today, Ditch The Label is one of the largest anti-bullying charities in the world and, in sharing its values, The Rumi Foundation is pleased to be able to contribute to the development of this charity’s important and effective projects.
Read more about how the Rumi Foundation supports Ditch The Label here.
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Prince Hussain Aga Khan founded Focused On Nature to assist in the conservation and protection of threatened and endangered species, as well as the conservation of under threat habitats.
As an avid photographer, Prince Hussain has taken some truly remarkable photographs of some of the world most beautiful and endangered species. From photographing marine life whilst free diving to roaming the great plains of East Africa in search of elusive shots of endangered species, Prince Hussain’s photographs aim to inspire this and future generations to protect our environment.
By generously placing his entire portfolio at the disposal of Focused On Nature for sale, proceeds from Prince Hussain’s limited edition photographs are donated to environmental projects that have immediate impact in wildlife conservation, protection, preservation and education.
In May 2016, The Rumi Foundation hosted an exhibition and dinner for Focused On Nature. By exhibiting Prince Hussain’s photographs of endangered species, Focused On Nature shares the Foundation’s belief that education and raising awareness is the key to preventing the eradication of endangered species and their habitats.
Read more about the event here.
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Founded in 2004, The Forgiveness Project is an award-winning organisation that collects and shares real life stories of forgiveness to build understanding, encourage reflection and enable people to reconcile with their pain. …and in doing so, to commence a process of moving forward from the trauma in their own lives.
This is a complex issue, sensitive and demanding of deep empathy, and The Rumi Foundation is pleased to support this important work. The Rumi Foundation believes that by sharing these stories, The Forgiveness Project contributes to demonstrating that everyone has the potential to change their perspective and to break the cycle of vengeance; whilst also empowering people to consider the nature of forgiveness and, in doing so, realise that conflict is not the only option.
Read more about how the Rumi Foundation supports The Forgiveness Project here.
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The WIRED Innovation Fellowships are open to any individual working in fields of science, technology, design, culture, business, the arts – and other fields covered by Wired magazine – whose fresh and energetic approach has already achieved a proven track record of early success; and who, in the editorial team’s opinion, has the potential to make a significant impact on the world.
The WIRED Fellowship programme does not care how old its candidates are or their country of origin; neither does the Fellowship panel make decisions based on personal background, ethnicity or gender. WIRED simply aims to identify individuals whose work makes its editors excited, and whose stories it is compelled to bring to a wider audience.
One of the 2016 Fellows is Babar Ali, who in 2002, at the age of nine-years-old became the world’s youngest Headmaster by setting up his own school in his back yard in his village in West Bengal. Starting with only 8 pupils, his sister was his first pupil, the school now has over 500 students some of which are starting college, and are also teaching in the school.
Read more about how the Rumi Foundation supports WIRED Innovation Fellowships here.
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Building on the success of its inaugural UK accelerator program in 2015, MassChallenge continues to engage the entrepreneurial sector in the UK looking for “high impact” and “high potential” early-stage companies.
Overall, MassChallenge’s 835 global alumni have raised $1.1 billion, have generated $520 million, and have created over 6,500 jobs.
The Rumi Foundation continues to strengthen its support of MassChallenge with its Founder, Lord Verjee, sitting on the Global Advisory Board and the Foundation was pleased to welcome Former Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick to a dinner hosted for MassChallenge in March 2016.
Governor Patrick has been a key champion of MassChallenge since its inception in Boston in 2009 and he spoke to some of the young entrepreneurs at the dinner about opportunities they have to make a real impact in the world.
Read more about the event here.
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With the business world becoming ever more transactional, Blueprint for Better Business aims to create a new business model based to encourage companies to operate true to a purpose that serves society, respects the dignity of people and thereby generates a fair return for responsible investors.
In keeping with the belief that a more ethical and responsible business world will benefit the whole of society, The Rumi Foundation hosted a dinner for Blueprint for Better Business for some of the UK’s top Chief Executives.
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Sir Michael Rake, Chairman of BT Group gave key note addresses on how important it is for businesses to change the way the operate so they not only do best for the organisation but also can do the best for society as a whole.
Read more about the event here.
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The inaugural MassChallenge UK Awards were held in the Old Truman Brewery in London on Thursday 22nd October. Attended by over 600 people there were keynote addresses from Thomasina Miers, Co-Founder and Executive Chef of Wahaca Restaurants and Amzat Yusuf, CEO & Founder of Citymapper.
The Awards were the culmination of a four month accelerator programme for 90 start ups and social entrepreneurs. During the programme the startups and social entrepreneurs were connected with a group of mentors and investors and given free office space to catalyze their growth and gear up for a successful future.
26 out of the 90 startups made the finals and were given the opportunity to make a last pitch before MassChallenge awarded £500,000 in no equity, no strings attached grants to 14 startups.
Lord Verjee presented the final award to MOM Incubators, who have created an inflatable incubator which could help save the lives of up to 1 million prematurely born children worldwide.
Read more about the event here.
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In September 2015, The Rumi Foundation supported the Inspire Dialogue “Growing Wisdom. Changing People” Conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lord Rowan Williams at Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Read more about the event here.
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The Rumi Foundation continues to strengthen its relationship with the Clinton Foundation.
In May 2015 Rumi Verjee joined President Clinton on a week long trip to Tanzania and Kenya visiting key innovative rural projects in the region. One such project was the Starkey Hearing Foundation in Kenya, who provide hearing aids for thousands of people in rural communities who would otherwise not be able to hear.
Read more about the event here.
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In May 2015 Rumi Verjee and Simon Verjee visited the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan on the Syrian border to gain further insight into the conditions and hardships that Syrian refugees are facing. Since its inception in July 2012 over 400,000 Syrian refugees have passed through the camp and Za’atari is now currently home to over 80,000 refugees.
Read more about how the Rumi Foundation supports UNHCR and the Za’atari refugee camp here.