Ex-investment banker is Cupid for City singles
LONELY City hearts searching for love this Christmas, look no further than ex-investment banker Salima Manji to play Cupid and gently tug on the heartstrings.
Having worked at JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and the now-defunct Dresdner Kleinwort, Manji left the City to set up a matchmaking supper club for singles, the London Dinner Club, and a sister company aimed at Asian professionals.
She now has over 500 members of the Asian and London Dinner Clubs, from the likes of Slaughter & May and Credit Suisse. The clubs hold regular soirées at popular City haunts Mortons in Berkeley Square, China Tang at the Dorchester and even a recent gathering for the jetsetters at Zuma’s Dubai outpost.
Matchmaking Manji explained to The Capitalist: “My investment banking colleagues complained of bad experiences with internet dating so I came up with the idea of a supper club for singles.”
Those looking for true love may be disappointed as so far there have been no marriages. However Manji reports there was one successful match not so long ago at a dinner in Chelsea “between a fund manager and a girl from Moody’s.”
Say no more. The next singles supper will be at Harvey Nichols on Thursday.
Yesterday saw the publication of the 165th edition of social bible Who’s Who. Of the thousand new additions to the big red book this year, there was a decent spread of names from finance and property squeezing their way onto the 2,500 pages – alongside the likes of comedian Tim Minchin and tennis player Andy Murray. Winning coveted social notoriety are the chief executive of Phoenix Group, Clive Christopher Roger Bannister; chief executive of Newton Investment Management, Helena Louise Morrissey; and the page-hogging
James Alexander Gustave Harold Stewart, chairman of global infrastructure at KPMG. Keeping it in the family are property moguls the Ritblats, with Sir John’s son Jamie – chairman of Delancey – making his debut on the pages. Also the Mayor of London’s brother Leo, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, joins Boris, fellow Johnson brother Joseph and father Stanley, making them one of the most successful families in the yearbook. There was also one update to an existing entry that caught The Capitalist’s beady eye. Lord Haskins, former chairman of Northern Foods, has amended his recreational activities to include “only-in-emergency harvest tractor-driver.” A nice variation on the often cited “walking, reading and skiing”.