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A letter from our new Chief Executive Office, Danyal Sattar, and his thoughts on joining Big Issue Invest as we come into the holiday season
Christmas came early for me, as I started at the beginning of December. I’m absolutely delighted to join Big Issue Invest as CEO.
Across the board at Big Issue Invest we have in our portfolio a great group of social enterprises and charities delivering high quality services to the country’s most vulnerable communities. Behind the scenes you’ll find that we have great team of people here working hard to serve each Investee’s funding needs.
What I have particularly liked in joining Big Issue Invest is the range of interventions we have. From the Corporate Social Venturing programme that supports early stage businesses, through to our lending programmes that provide unsecured loans to smaller organisations and our larger scale investments on our regulated Fund Management side. We have a product to suit many of the investment needs of the social sector.
Christmas falls just after the shortest, darkest day of the year and with the harder months of winter yet to come. Homelessness in the UK is steadily rising which is a grim indicator of a rise in poverty. Our Group mission to “dismantle poverty and create opportunity through self-help, social trading and business solutions” and backing organisations offering these solutions is needed now more than ever. That’s one of the best things about our investment role. Take a look at our investment portfolio and you will see people making a difference to poverty in the UK. That’s what we get to do every day when we come into work.
Looking ahead to the new year, one of the best things about the cold months for me is the speed at which the days become lighter and longer again. It’s a great time of year to be thinking about our forward strategy. Wherever the team sees demand, is where we are likely develop new offerings.
Finally, it’s a time to remember that our vendors are at the heart of our business. The social enterprises and charities that we support help people like them and help to prevent poverty in the first place. Seeing my regular vendor in The Big Issue Foundation’s 12 Days of Christmas rendition shows that we are heading in the right direction.
Big Issue vendors' version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" https://t.co/X5i0jsmm6Z via @YouTube
— Danyal Sattar (@IamthatDan) December 11, 2018
And if you hold a copy of The Big Issue bought in London, there is a good chance it will have been unloaded by me and my colleagues on the 5 am Saturday shift, as it is all hands on deck for our Christmas edition.
Have a very happy Christmas and great New Year!
Bigger Issues need bigger solutions
Big Issue Group is creating new solutions through enterprise to unlock opportunities for the 14.5 million people living in poverty to earn, learn and thrive. Big Issue Group brings together our media and investment initiatives as well as a diverse and pioneering range of new solutions, all of which aim to dismantle poverty by creating opportunity. Learn how you can change lives today.
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