SPEAR’S
MAGAZINE
:
P R O F.
PETER VIRDEE & KIDS FOR KIDS
July 5, 2016
The Giver: Prof. Peter Virdee, a property magnate and chairman of the Virdee
Foundation, which strives to help vulnerable women and children.
Seeing my parents giving money, especially as we came from a very humble
background as they had only been allowed to bring £3 with them from India, was
inspirational. Growing up I couldn’t understand this — I thought we were suffering
at the time, but they were still giving money out to people.
One day I challenged my parents on this, asking: ‘Why are you giving money
away when I want a new pair of shoes?’ And my father said: ‘Look, you have a
roof over your head, you have all your faculties, and you already have a couple of
pairs of trainers!’
That had an impact, as did my religion. The Sikh religion clearly states we should
give at least 10 per cent of our wealth to charitable causes.
Building blocks
Property is my core business. I’m involved in several other businesses such as
renewable energy, spread betting, insurance brokerage, pharmaceuticals and the
care industry. All these have something to do with real estate and we now
manage over £5 billion worth of assets. This has allowed me to set up my
philanthropic ventures and sequentially I have been invited to sit on the
philanthropy advisory board of Coutts. I spend about 30 per cent of my time on
charity and community work, often mentoring children and young adults.
I look at the DNA of the charities I give to — what I don’t like to do is reinvent the
wheel. The Virdee Foundation looks at the direct impact the charities have on
individuals: there’s a test that we do and then I take that to the board.
Remote control
What drew me to Kids for Kids is the fact they’ve adopted 78 villages and had an
impact on over 364,000 people in such a remote place. The work that Patricia
has done to date is phenomenal and very touching. I was invited to the
Ambassador’s Ball, which is where I met her, but prior to that — and Patricia
doesn’t know this — Kids for Kids was on my radar, so when I got the invitation I
said I’m definitely going to get involved.
You’ve got to have political willpower in any country — hand in hand with the
charity, you need to make sure you’ve got political clout and try and get that
directly or indirectly into the region. I’m a very firm believer in lobbying
governments to actually make a difference in regions such as Darfur. It’s a shame
governments sometimes turn a blind eye. If we don’t keep bringing it to their
attention, these issues will drift away to the back of their minds.
Kids for Kids is something we will add value to. I will definitely be taking my
expertise and my black book and seeing how I can help in that region, because
you have to have a two­pronged approach on this — you can’t just go down the
charity route, you have to go down the political route as well.
A step up
Philanthropy is part of a journey. This is a conduit between now and the good
times — you can’t have people who rely on charity all their lives, you have to
make these people self­sufficient, they have to generate their own income and a
better life for themselves.
A good charity should always make sure it allows the people it’s supporting to
better themselves by doing and getting into that position if they can.
www.thevirdeefoundation.com
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