When I was growing up my parents emphasised the importance of giving back and supporting those who are less privileged than you, so I’ve always wanted to do philanthropic work. The thing with philanthropy is there are so many causes, so many worthy things to support, so you have to be targeted in your approach. No one person can solve all of the world’s problems.
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I founded the Pearl Fund to provide long-term educational support to orphaned or fatherless children growing up in abject poverty in Nigeria, the place where my parents were born and raised. It’s somewhere that I have a lot of love and affection for and return to as often as I can. The need there is also so stark. It’s a country of over 200 million people and a large proportion of those are in poverty and suffering. You shouldn’t compare struggle, but the deprivation in England is nothing like the deprivation you see in Nigeria.
Our approach is depth rather than breadth. We’re not looking to be in every African country and reach thousands of kids but have only a limited impact. We started with 40 kids from Lagos last September and we’ve made a commitment to support them to the end of their academic life. We help them with their school meals, their uniforms, school trips, with transport and with nutritional support for their families.
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We’re trying to deliver a 360° service. The aim is to help break that cycle of poverty through education, which is one of the great social levellers.
We partnered with Stewardship [a Christian philanthropic services organisation] to provide the infrastructure for the Pearl Fund. I’m a practising Christian; my faith is something that’s very important to me, and it’s the framework through which I see the world.
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I am also co-founder of the Akoje Residency, which supports artists from Africa and the African diaspora. We want to help give them a platform where they can excel and take that next step in their career. I believe African art has a huge amount of potential. Over the last 10 years we’ve seen the upward trajectory of the proliferation of African art, culture and music, and we want to be part of that positive change.
We’ve partnered with the King’s Foundation, founded by King Charles III, to base the residency at the 18th-century Dumfries House in Scotland. We’ve put together a programme where the artists can hone their skills. They can attend stonemasonry sessions; they can learn about textiles or sewing; take classes with the Royal Drawing School.
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I’m interested in art but I don’t do it! I know what my limits are – I’m not good with a brush. But I can appreciate good art and think I have an eye. My house is filled with African art; I absolutely love it.
Philanthropy will always play an important role in my life, but it is just one thing I want to do in the future. It’s unlikely that I would focus on it full-time, but it will always be something important to me. I think a lot of athletes do a lot of good philanthropic work. But it’s the responsibility of anyone who is in a privileged position to extend their arm and care for those who aren’t, whether that is through their voice or their wallet. The measure of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable.
pearlfund.org.uk; gallery.akojegallery.com
As told to Stephanie Bridger-Linning
