Investment banker Mark Carnegie's new African venture

Australian Financial Review
by Fiona Carruthers
11 October 2019

Some of the most pivotal moments in our lives occur while travelling the world. Here, three leaders in their respective fields share their most life-defining experiences abroad.

Going with the flow
Mark Carnegie, venture capitalist and philanthropist

Children living with a disability on the African continent have a very challenging life, and there is limited support, if any. So when my good friend Thierry Dalais of Time + Tide Africa put together a foundation focusing on improving the lives of children where its lodges are situated (in Zambia and Madagascar), I was very keen to contribute.

I get asked to write cheques for a lot of charities and normally try to stay at arm’s length. But with Time + Tide I’m so impressed by what they do, and team leaders such as executive director Elizabeth Ellis, that I want to be involved. I’m on the board as a trustee as well as being a major donor and child sponsor.

What I like about this venture is they know how to get scale, they’re committed and they’re transparent. The figures are fantastic: from the pilot programs that started in 2016 , 96 per cent of the Time + Tide Foundation’s female beneficiaries have advanced to secondary school, and 77 per cent of children in the home-based education programs have registered in primary schools. Visiting the foundation’s office in Zambia is as good as travel gets for me.

A stitch in time
Gavin Tollman, The Travel Corporation chairman

Authenticity is easy to talk about, but not easy to do. We all want to take trips that matter more. A couple of years ago, I met the women of the Iraq Al-Amir Women's Co-Op in Jordan through The Travel Corporation's TreadRight Foundation. The co-op was set up in 1993 by Jordan's Queen Noor Al-Hussein to help these women make a living from ancient craft like fabric, soap, and pottery production.

The challenge when we came into the picture was that they had a strong skills set, but limited distribution channels. The women were trying to do something culturally real, which is very difficult to make work financially when you live in a small community outside of [Jordan's capital] Amman.

Today, as we head into our third year of supporting them, they have an online site, Iraqalamir.org, for international sales. We also include a visit to the co-op on our six-day Jordan experience. These women inspire me every time I visit, as do all our TreadRight partners.

All roads lead home
Daizy Gedeon, businesswoman and documentary filmmaker

I grew up in Sydney but my Lebanese heritage and language has always been a huge part of my identity. More than 4 million Lebanese live in Lebanon – and 16 million of us live outside it. Lebanon turns 100 in 2020. It’s still a very young country, and its journey is important to its diaspora.

We’re always listening to what Lebanon is calling us to do because we’re all responsible for its progress. My latest documentary about Lebanon, The Dream is Everything, has just been submitted for consideration for next year’s Sundance Film Festival.

To make the film, I returned to Lebanon many times over the past few years, and also interviewed Lebanese immigrants living from Paris to New York. So many people have been involved in it, including designer Elie Saab and Prime Minister Saad Harriri. It’s been a reminder of the power of travel to reconnect us to our heritage.