CITY A.M. EDITOR ALLISTER HEATH
THANKS to you, our readers, we are delighted to be able to announce that our first ever Christmas Appeal has raised £401,116 for a very deserving charity. As you know, the money will go to Opportunity International, our chosen partner for the appeal, and help it in its wonderful job of providing a range of financial services, including micro-loans and saving products, in southern Malawi. Our appeal was backed by HRH Princess Anne, Opportunity International’s patron, and has helped forge much closer links between the City and the charity. I would like to single out some of our most generous donors. They include Lloyds Banking Group; Bank of America Merrill Lynch, led by Europe president Jonathan Moulds; Greg Knight of Welbeck Group; and David Williams of Avanti Communications. There were also a large number of substantial anonymous donors as well as numerous text, online, phone and postal contributions. Your much appreciated money will help harness the transformative power of capitalism and market institutions to give poor entrepreneurs a handup, rather than a handout. I always thought City A.M. had wonderful, generous readers – and I was right. To all those of you who have made a donation, large or small, thank you very much – and have a very happy Christmas. allister.heath@cityam.com
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