It is exciting to be there at the start of something and that is how I feel about Street Child . I first met the founder Tom Dannatt at his charity’s launch reception ten years ago and he remains a good friend. Over that decade I thought I had been busy but he and his extraordinary team have helped over 100,000 children to go to school and supported over 15,000 families to set up businesses across five countries. Not bad.

In 2012 Tom came to me with a plan to organise and invite international participants to the first ever marathon in Sierra Leone, at the time the focus of Street Child’s effort but literally the poorest country in the world. He was looking for a corporate sponsor and after a bit of persuasion I got the agreement of Kiln to support Street Child financially and send 20 employees to run the race.

My two trips to Sierra Leone were memorable; each a unique opportunity to see the impact that fund-raising has on people’s lives first hand. I am also delighted that over subsequent years many others have also visited the country and have come away with a passion to do something positive to help those with virtually nothing by our standards.