"Why am I working for this money? What good is it for?"
Charitable giving has always been a part of Ram Gidoomal's life, which he credits to strong religious influences. Raised in both the Sikh and Hindu faiths, he attended a Muslim school as a child in Kenya. At 16, he came to Britain as a refugee, and later became a Christian. All strands were important motivators of his giving. Yet in 1985 on a business trip to India, a visit to a slum in Bombay (Mumbai) shocked him into doing more. The experience made him realise not only how fortunate he was, but also how much of an impact he could have on others: "Seeing this deprivation first-hand put my own financial position into context. I realised that I was financially secure - and privileged. I asked myself: 'Why am I working for this money? What good is it for?'"
The experience inspired him and three friends set up the Christmas Cracker Charitable Trust with a novel approach to raising money for charity: to create a business, run by teenage volunteers, which would donate its profits to relief projects in the developing world. Ram, who at the time was UK Group Chief Executive of Inlaks Group, an international conglomerate, explains: "I wanted to use my business and entrepreneurial experience, but also to motivate youth - to make them aware of what is going on in the world, and to get involved."
Christmas Cracker partnered with youth groups around the country to run local projects. The 'Crackerterias' marketed their food - much of it donated - with such slogans as 'eat less, pay more', 'bite for right', and 'justice not just us'. The restaurants were a success, raising nearly £500,000 to benefit development projects in India in the first instance. The kids were hooked, and over the next six years went on to run other businesses - including newspapers, radio stations and retail stores selling fair trade products - with each initiative running for only one month leading up to Christmas.
All volunteers attended a training weekend, where they learned basic business skills as well as explored why they wanted to be involved. Ram also included them in distributing the money they earned - the volunteers were involved in helping with the final decision on the donation, choosing from recommendations made by partner development agencies. Some of the volunteers visited the relief projects they funded and reported back on what they found. Over seven years Christmas Cracker projects raised more than £5 million for charity, mobilising over 50,000 youth in the process. Although Ram had initially intended to run the project for only one year, the enthusiasm of the volunteers encouraged him to continue: "It was a very rewarding experience. We were changing lives while motivating young people to get involved." Many of the youth went on to careers in journalism, while others went abroad to work in relief efforts.
Believing that "time and energy can be more important, more meaningful, than money", and inspired by the success of Christmas Cracker, Ram took an early retirement at the age of 40 to focus on charitable activities. Today he devotes his time to a number of charities in London - including London Sustainability Exchange; The Employability Forum, which helps refugees and asylum seekers find work; Citylife, which helps disadvantaged individuals across the country find jobs and housing; and South Asian Development Partnership, a charity he founded in 1991 to "facilitate and catalyse entrepreneurial initiatives in the UK and South Asia" - to name only a few. He has also written a number of books on ethnic minorities in Britain, and is a regular speaker and media commentator.
In his work he tries to never lose sight of what is driving him: "It is easy to forget or confuse why you wanted to give your time or money in the first place. I won't let myself forget the people in that slum in Bombay." Yet Ram believes the most important lesson he has learned from all his experiences as an engaged philanthropist is this: "Don't let what you cannot do stop you from doing what you can do."
Photo from this 2023 piece in Church Times: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/18-november/features/interviews/interview-ram-gidoomal-entrepreneur-author-philanthropist