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international

alongside several prominent philanthropic “theirworld has built a strong
organizations, such as:
• the Jacobs Foundation (Switzerland); global network of youth
• e Rockefeller Foundation (USA); ambassadors, and we work closely
• Atlassian Foundation (Australia);
• Porticus; with them to understand the real
• Open Society Foundations (OSF).
needs and aspirations of young

ese partners believed in IFFEd’s bold vision— people in the countries we serve.”
our “moonshot”—and provided the seed
funding necessary to turn a complex concept
into a functioning reality.

We have put together a really strong team from involved in all this?
Board level down. e former UK PM, Gordon ank you! I have been active on the social
Brown, remains our honorary President; we are impact side all through my commercial career.
fortunate to have Sir Julian Smith KCE CBE, a e work I did in the education space (Global
former UK Cabinet Minister and top mediator as Business Coalition for Education, Chairing the
our very active Chair; and Lakshmi Shyam-Sunder, UNICEF Youth Skills Development program,
the Chief Risk O cer of the World Bank as our Early Childhood Education with eir World)
nance expert - amongst many other leaders in gave an opportunity to interact with former
their elds to take IFFEd forward at pace. Together U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown on multiple
we are working hard to pull in more donors, identify occasions. He has stretched my thinking and
recipient countries and projects, and ensure every pushed me into action mode. At the time, I
dollar donated creates maximum value. was the global CEO of the Britannica Group,
which includes iconic brands like Encyclopaedia
We’ve made great progress in a very short space Britannica—a legacy of over 250 years—and
of time. We o cially launched IFFEd at the Merriam-Webster, which has been around for
General Assembly’s “Summit of the Future” more than 180 years.
in September, where we announced our initial
$1.5 billion funding commitment for 2025 and Our group also ran a professional readiness
2026. During that summit, I had the opportunity training division, working closely with the airline
to join Gordon Brown and several youth and defense sectors. We helped train pilots and
ambassadors to present our mission directly to soldiers to prepare for high-stakes, high-pressure
Secretary-General António Guterres. situations—collaborating with top airlines and
defense organizations like the U.S. Army and the
It was a powerful moment—because ultimately, Israeli Defense Forces.
this initiative is about and for young people.
at’s why we partner with eirworld, an In addition, we built a business focused on AI
organization focused on early childhood and cognitive computing. So I had the chance
education and youth empowerment. eirworld to lead diverse, innovative teams across multiple
has built a strong global network of youth sectors.
ambassadors, and we work closely with them
to understand the real needs and aspirations of When this current initiative came along, they
young people in the countries we serve. needed someone who understood both nancial
products and education, and who had experience
Rather than reinventing what already exists, our navigating complex global stakeholder
model is to collaborate with organizations that environments. rough Britannica, I’d already
excel in speci c areas, creating a lean, cost-e ective worked with ministers of education in countries
ecosystem focused on maximum impact. from the U.K, to Japan to Egypt—designing large-
scale educational programs. at experience
What about yourself? I have seen that you have made this opportunity a natural t.
written articles, that you teach at Stern and that
you are quite an active person. How did you get I nd this work incredibly exciting—it’s rare to
combine nancial innovation with education
w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h