QUARTERLY RETURN 87 Spring 2013

award news

Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development 2013

aGM 2013 “an InspIrInG day”

A round up of our annual Members’ Day and AGM

GuMutIndo Means “excellent QualIty”

Learn more about Ugandan coffee co-operative, Gumutindo

02 04 - 08 10 - 11

As QR goes to print we are reflecting on another successful AGM.

This year we had a fantastic turnout, with almost 100 members joining us at the Assembly

Rooms in Newcastle. We were incredibly lucky as Gabriel Kamudu, Managing Director of Craft Aid Mauritius was able to travel to the UK to meet our members. Gabriel talked of the real and lasting impact Shared Interest has made on his organisation. For those of you that couldn’t make it, a summary of the day is available on pages four to seven.

This year our Regional Development Executives were able to join us. The overseas team spent a week either side of the AGM in the office with the rest of the staff team. As always it was a pleasure to welcome them to Newcastle and great to be able to spend time with them, learning about their vital work on the ground.

February saw the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, staff and volunteers attended 24 events across the country promoting fair trade and Shared Interest’s role in the movement. As part of our Fairtrade Fortnight activities we were thrilled to be invited to produce a cover wrap for the Big Issue magazine. This was a great opportunity for us to promote our work on a national scale. A full round-up of the Fortnight can be found on pages eight and nine.

Finally, I am delighted to announce that Shared Interest has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development 2013. We have also been shortlisted for the Finance for the Future and the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards, it is fantastic to be recognised by such prestigious awarding bodies and I look forward to sharing the results with you in the near future.

Best wishes,

02 Qr87 Front cover photo: Gumutindo coffee farmer, Mary Nabugobelo

Patricia Alexander, Managing Director

welcoMe

We would like to thank Peter Freeman for his commitment to the Shared Interest Board of Directors over the last ten years. In that time, there have been many changes within the organisation that Peter has been involved with at a strategic level.

At our 2013 AGM, Peter spoke about his experience as a Board member and emphasised the following as highlights of his time with us:

• The birth of Shared Interest Foundation in 2004

• The opening of our overseas offices in 2006, 2009 and 2012

• The acquisition of the prestigious Queen’s Award in Sustainable Development in 2008

As Peter retires from the Board we have over £29 million in Share Capital, almost 9,000 members, and last year we made payments of over £47 million to customers across the globe. We are sure Peter agrees that we have seen great success during his time with us as a Board member and as he retains his position as a member of the Society we hope to be able to build on this success.

We are delighted to announce that Shared Interest Society has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development 2013.

This award recognises commercially successful products, services and

approaches to management which might benefit the environment, society and the wider economy.

This is the second time we have been acknowledged by the Queen’s Award office and we are thrilled to be able to maintain our status as Queen’s Award winners. We couldn’t have achieved this prestigious recognition without the support of you, our members. Thank you for your continued investment, commitment and support.

Queen’s award news

peter freeMan

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If you were present at our AGM on 15 March 2013, you will have seen Finance Director, Tim Morgan presenting our financial results. Tim gave a presentation, taking members through some key points from the accounts and showing a summarised version of the Profit & Loss Account to 30 September 2012 for the Society, as can be seen below:

Tim explained that the surplus for the year (£123,000) is after providing for a 0.5% interest payment to members (as described in QR86) and for Corporation Tax due. The accumulated P&L reserve carried forward of £879,000 is in addition to a specific reserve of £766,000 which is put aside from previous profits as a reserve for lending losses.

If you have any specific questions about the accounts of Shared Interest Society – and in particular any points which you would like to see discussed more fully in QR – do please contact us and we will ask Tim and his team to publish a response because you are probably not the only person who has that question!

Members have also been asking, both at the AGM and during the year, about operating costs of the Society and how they are funded. In particular we regularly get asked whether members’ investments are used to fund the running costs.

The answer is that the running costs are all covered by the income we

How we use sHare capItal

generate from lending money to customers and depositing surplus capital and reserves with the bank. Members’ investments (i.e. the Society’s capital) are used to fund the lending to customers.

Each year we budget to achieve a small overall surplus and do our best to achieve this. However the purpose of having the accumulated surplus is so that if we did have a year with an overall loss rather than a surplus, this would be charged against the reserves and not members’ investment. It would only be in the extreme case of a very large loss – currently almost £1.65m – that we would have to charge members’ investment accounts with a share of this each. It is for this reason that the Board has decided that we should always seek to hold a sum equal to at least 5% of share capital as reserves against sudden shocks such as major bad debts. The current situation is that we have reserves amounting to around 5.7%.

If you would like any further information on any of the above please get in touch on 0191 233 9100 or email membership@shared-interest.com

You can of course access the full version of our financial report on our website www.shared-interest.com/about-us/our-publications/directors-report-and-accounts/ or by requesting a hard copy to be sent to you in the post.

£’000 2011/12 2010/11

Income 2,649 2,422

Costs 2,372 2,334

Surplus/(deficit) before tax 277 88

Surplus/(deficit) after tax & share interest 123 73

Accumulated P&L reserve 879 756

Name: _______________________________________ Account number: _________________________

Address: _______________________________________________________________________________________

Telephone number: ___________________________ Email: ___________________________________

I understand that interest is credited to my/our Shared Interest Society Limited Account in the first instance. I would like:

Interest to remain in my account

All interest to be donated to Shared Interest Foundation

To waive all interest

Signature _______________________________________________ Date ______/______/_______

My Interest payMent

We would also like to remind you that you have three options when it comes to interest, you can add the interest to your Share Account, you can donate it to our charity, Shared Interest Foundation or you can waive all interest. You chose one of these options when you opened your Share Account, if you would like to refresh your original choice, please complete the form below and send it back to us at: Shared Interest, Freepost NT1883, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 1BR.

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“an InspIrInG day”aGM 2013

• AGM 2012 attendance in Oxford was almost 200

• New website and Secure Area for members launched

• Gift Pack introduced

• Agreed to pay members interest

• West African office opened

• VAT registration led to £120,000 refund

• Shortlisted and runner up for several national awards

• Producer lending increased by 10% this year, and 83% since 2007

• 120 committed ambassadors and volunteers are located around the UK

The 23rd Members’ Day and Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held at the Assembly Rooms, Newcastle upon Tyne on 15 March. The event proved to be a great success with nearly 100 members joining us on the day. Feedback was extremely positive, with many stating that highlights included: meeting likeminded members, participating in the workshops, talking to the overseas team, and hearing first-hand the massive impact their investment has made.

encouraGInG year despIte tHe econoMIc clIMate, our MeMbersHIp reMaIns loyal and coMMItted and InvestMent contInued to rIse.

Patricia Alexander, MD gave a brief summary of the main accomplishments:

• Rates charged to customers retained at same levels as previous year. Average lending at 67.5% is up slightly on 2010/11 (66%)

• Interest earned on deposits has increased by £148,000 to £784,000

• Cost of money borrowed very similar to last year (£126,000)

• Bad debt cost substantial and again includes a mixture of write-offs and specific provisions. Total £613,000 compared to £670,000 last year.

• VAT windfall payment of £120,000

• Operating costs increase 14% (ignoring the VAT win above) – mostly personnel, premises and related professional fees

• Result is a surplus which allows us to offer a small interest payment of 0.5% to members and still leaves reserves of £1.65m (about 5.7% of share capital)

All resolutions were carried with significant majority:

• Financial accounts

• Social accounts

• Pay arrangements Executive Directors

• Re-appoint Auditor PWC

• Election of Kate Priestley, Keith Sadler, David Bowman and Martin Kyndt as Board Directors

• Election of Sue James, Malcolm Nunn, Rod Gilpin and Liz Murphy to the Council

report froM tHe fInance dIrector

Qr87 05

After six years as a member of the Shared Interest Council, three of which were served as Moderator, Stephen Sanders retired at the AGM. He will be replaced as Moderator by Claire Wigg and Margaret Newens who have agreed to take joint responsibility for the role.

During his presentation, Stephen identified one of the Council’s main concerns over the year as the level of interaction between the Board and Council, he explained: “When I first joined, an early concern was that Council and Board did not meet together on an annual basis, although these meetings have not been frequent, we did meet six months ago and a further meeting is planned for October. As a result of our on-going dialogue with the Board, we have agreed that Council meetings are open to all Directors and that Council members should be able to observe one Board meeting (if they so wish) during their initial years on Council. It is also proposed that a member of Council should be a full member of the Board Nomination Committee.”

Stephen updated members on an on-going debate within the Council on the meaning of ownership and what it means to be an organisation that acts co-operatively. He noted the addition of bad debt provision information in the annual financial accounts and praised the “embedding” of Social Accounts into the Society’s culture.

He concluded: “May I sign off by thanking the current and past members of Council for their support and encouragement during the past six years. I have enjoyed my time on Council, and found it worthwhile and profitable.”

councIl Moderator’s report

Keynote speaker Gabriel Kamudu, Managing Director of Craft Aid, travelled from Mauritius to meet Shared Interest staff and members to explain in person the difference made by their support. Gabriel explained that, as the only fair trade organisation on the island, their business journey has not been easy. Since it was established in 1982, the not-for-profit company has grown from five to 250 staff from disadvantaged backgrounds and many with major disabilities.

One such member of staff is Angela. Since joining Craft Aid in 2005 to work in the fresh flowers department, her whole life has changed. She has friends, a sense of place and an income; all of which have helped to raise Angela’s self-esteem and confidence.

Gabriel ended by saying: “With the support of Shared Interest we have been able to respond quicker to customer demands, increased the customer base and reduced lead times from eight months to eight weeks. Thank you to members for this beautiful work, which is impacting on so many lives in the world.”

craft aId: a Journey tHat cHanGed lIves

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Q – Concerning term loans is there any evidence of the purchase of machinery bringing an efficiency that subsequently put people out of work?

A – Paul Sablich replied, giving the example of how a cableway at a banana co-operative enabled each worker to move a greater volume of bananas. He asked the co-op management about whether this would affect the workforce. They explained that, although labour was saved in this area, there was still sufficient workload, and staff would take on different tasks. The important thing to note is that the cableway improves workers’ health as they no longer have to carry very heavy loads of bananas on their back.

Q – Are we still sharing offices with other organisations?

A – In Kenya we used to share with WFTO Africa and Traidcraft Exchange but now due to increasing costs we are going it alone and will move into new premises on 2 April. In Lima, the office is not shared. In Accra it is within Fairtrade Africa’s office.

Q – In West Africa, is the Comic Relief Social Investment Fund being used by the Society to help a new type of producer?

A – In some ways yes, for south - south trade in new countries where there is more risk.

sHared Interest foundatIon

Head of Foundation, Chris Pay gave a short presentation detailing Shared Interest Foundation’s work and plans for the future. He then opened the floor to questions which were answered by SWIFT’s Project Manager, Faith Muisyo.

Q - What safeguards are there to ensure the Foundation is not distracted away from its original purpose?

worksHopsFollowing member feedback last year, we introduced three structured workshops into the AGM with attendees having the opportunity to participate in all discussions.

envIronMent – wHere do we stand?

After a short presentation by Ian Barney, members were asked to consider topics such as “How important is the environment to you and why?” and “To what extent should Shared Interest seek to encourage good environmental practices amongst its customers?”

To get members involved in the debate, they were asked to place coffee beans on a flipchart sheet to show their interest in the following areas:

a. Investing in Shared Interest specifically to enhance environmental resilience

b. Receiving more information on the environmental challenges faced by producers

c. Reducing your environmental footprint

d. Other areas of interest

The results of this activity will be available online.

overseas teaM

Regional Development Executives Paul Sablich, Rachel Ngondo and John Dossou travelled from Peru, Kenya and Ghana respectively to give members a first-hand account of the vital work they carry out in their regions.

Members in this workshop were invited to ask questions, which included:

Q – For Gabriel: What is Craft Aid doing to respond to environmental threats?

A – Within Mauritius the government is doing a lot of work to protect the environment. Craft Aid has a water collection system and they use that within their buildings and processes, they use organic cotton and try to recycle everything.

Qr87 07

A - The strategic review ensures we have focus. There are many areas in which we could assist, but it was clear that access to finance was the area in which we can add most value. Any wider projects will be in partnership with other organisations. We do still need to consider environmental impact, because it has the potential to have such a dramatic effect on those we work with.

Q – What crossover is there between Shared Interest Foundation and Traidcraft Exchange?

A – There are opportunities to work in partnership and for each organisation to bring their area of expertise - Traidcraft Exchange in market access and Shared Interest Foundation on access to finance.

Q – Please can you explain more about Shared Interest Foundation’s Comic Relief grant?

A – This will be used specifically in five countries in Africa to involve 150 trainees, workshops for businesses, plus mentoring on a one-to-one basis to help with loan applications.

Q – How do you identify producer groups that may need your support?

A – In Swaziland we set selection criteria, made radio announcements and placed newspaper adverts. About 300 businesses applied and they were selected against criteria relating to their product, commitment, length of trading (two years needed) and whether they had any export expertise (none needed). Many of the issues for small businesses in Swaziland are the same for those in the UK and a key factor is their motivation and appetite for growth.

Q – Are the profits from the Society used to fund the Foundation?

A – There is no automatic donation made from the Society. The Foundation needs to source its own funds. The Society could be asked to fund a specific project and historically many members have chosen to donate the interest gained on their Share Account to the Foundation.

Following the workshops, members were then amongst the first people to see two new films conveying the difference made by Shared Interest investment and how lending to buyers indirectly benefits fair trade producers. Tying in with the hot drinks focus of Fairtrade Fortnight, one film centred around Mpanga tea growers in Uganda and their relationship with UK buyer Cafédirect, while the other detailed the process of coffee from Mexican producer group (CESMACH) to US buyer (Equal Exchange Inc).

A full note of the AGM is available on the website or alternatively by request from Membership on 0191 233 9102

Fairtrade Fortnight continues to be a great opportunity for Shared Interest to promote the general fair trade movement and how we support those in the supply chain to access fair finance.

In support of the Fairtrade Foundation’s Go Further for Smallholder Farmers campaign, staff in the office created “mini-marchers” to add to the virtual march on Parliament Square. The march was intended to encourage members of the public to sign a petition to David Cameron that highlights the need to champion smallholder farmers at the G8 summit in June. By raising awareness of the fact that, despite producing 70% of the world’s food, over half of the world’s hungriest people are smallholder farmers, the Fairtrade Foundation aims to improve the livelihoods of producers across the globe.

With the help of our volunteers across the country we have attended 24 events over the course of the Fortnight including a fashion show at Newcastle Central Library, an exhibition in a Milton Keynes shopping centre, and a debate on ‘Fairtrade and the Economic Crisis’ in Watford.

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faIrtradefortnIGHt 2013

Our final event to round off Fairtrade Fortnight was the Fairtrade Schools Conference in Sunderland. We have been working with Sunderland City Council on a European funded educational project that links schools in Sunderland with those in its French twin town, Saint-Nazaire to raise awareness of fair trade within the curriculum.

Shared Interest’s Regional Development Executive for East Africa, Rachel Ngondo spoke about the impact of fair trade on communities across the world. She spoke of the impact of fair trade on young people in Kenya, including easier access to healthcare and schools.

Pupils were invited to get involved in some interactive voting on fair trade issues, with all present agreeing that more should be done to support fair trade in Sunderland and that they would like to learn more about fair trade in school.

We ran three workshops, an introduction to Fairtrade for younger children and entrepreneurship as well as ethical finance for the older pupils. Shared Interest Engagement Officer, Sally Reith said: “The pupils really understood the concept of ethical finance, using money for good, and it was clear that many of those attending had a clear grasp of the impact of Fairtrade. Hopefully they have been inspired to get more involved through their schools and some are already planning to work towards Fairtrade school status.”

All images on pages 8-9 by Ian McClelland Photography

Qr87 09

new cHIef executIve offIcer for tHe faIrtrade foundatIonWe would like to take this opportunity to welcome Mike Gidney into his new role at the Fairtrade Foundation.

Mike replaces Harriet Lamb CBE, Executive Director at the Fairtrade Foundation for ten years, who moved to Germany to take up the role of Chief Executive of Fairtrade International in July.

Mike began his career as a teacher in Kenya, going on to work within programme development in numerous African countries with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and other Non Government Organisations (NGOs). He has an impressive 20 year track record of working in international development, mostly with a focus on poverty reduction - in programme management, strategy

and policy.

His experience working in the non-governmental sector in the UK and overseas has led him to believe that there is no better model for ending poverty than through enabling fairer trade and that Fairtrade, when it works well, can be transformational.

dId you know...2013 faIrtrade facts• The Fairtrade system currently works with

1.24 million people - farmers and workers - across more than 66 developing countries

• In the UK, sales of Fairtrade products in 2011 reached £1.32 billion – a 12% increase on the previous year

• Fairtrade products are now sold in more than 120 countries

• 75% of all Fairtrade producers are smallholder farmers

• 78% of consumers recognise the FAIRTRADE Mark

• Last year, farmers and workers from some of the world’s poorest countries invested €65 million in Fairtrade Premium in business, social and environmental projects in their communities

• There are now 991 Fairtrade producer organisations worldwide

• More than 6.5 million litres of Fairtrade wine was enjoyed in 2011

• One in every three bananas sold in the UK is Fairtrade

• Fairtrade accounts for 10% of all tea sold in the UK

• Just over 8% of all roast and ground retail coffee is Fairtrade certified

• 9,924 tonnes of Fairtrade hot chocolate was drunk in the UK in 2011 – that’s about 1.5 million of us sitting down to a cup of hot chocolate every day

• Chichester Cathedral became the world’s first public building to display Fairtrade and Fairmined certified gold in 2011. A 3ft cockerel was gilded in Fairtrade certified gold and positioned atop the 270ft Cathedral spire

• Fairtrade is a thriving and growing campaign movement with more than 550 Fairtrade Towns, almost 900 Fairtrade Schools and 170 Fairtrade Universities, and more than 7,000 Fairtrade Faith Groups

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GuMutIndo, wHIcH Means “excellent QualIty” In tHe local luGIsu lanGuaGe, Is a faIr trade coffee co-operatIve.

The coffee farms of Gumutindo’s almost 9,000 individual members are located in the Mbale district of eastern Uganda on the lower slopes of Mount Elgon, Uganda’s highest mountain. The rich, fertile volcanic soil and subtropical climate are ideal for growing high quality Arabica coffee.

Coffee has been grown co-operatively here since the 1950s. However, the union used to bulk all of the farmers’ coffee together, without distinguishing between the different qualities. In 1998 a group of farmers, including the current Managing Director, Willington Wamayeye (who some of you may have met at our 2012 AGM) realised that the coffee market was offering better prices for higher quality coffee. The group decided to market their coffee independently and thanks to additional support from TWIN Trading, Gumutindo was born.

Today the co-operative’s members are located across the mountains and are organised into 16 different societies.

Gumutindo produces Fairtrade and organic coffee. Willington told us: “Over many years we have developed a sustainable production system that does not degrade the delicate environment of our beautiful mountain home. Organic production makes sense to us because it is the natural thing to do, it is how our parents farmed, it is the right thing to do as it protects the ecosystem of the mountain, it helps create the highest quality products and ultimately it is what our customers want.”

Willington continued: “We have never considered producing or selling coffee that was not Fairtrade certified. We want all our members, present and future, to benefit from the unique combination of minimum price, Fairtrade Premium and long term relationship benefits offered by the fair trade market. We would not be where we are today without them.”

Thanks to the support of Shared Interest and the fair trade movement, Gumutindo is able to pay 5,200 Ugandan Shillings for a kilogram of parchment coffee, this compares to 2,500/ 3,000 Ugandan Shillings in the local market. In addition to the higher price for the coffee, the group has access to the Fairtrade Premium. Last year they received $117,000 in Fairtrade Premium. They gave 50% of this to the 16 societies for community development projects, invested 30% into their community savings co-operative and used the remaining 20% to build up the co-operative’s reserves.

Shared Interest has worked with Gumutindo since 2006 when we provided a Term Loan facility that enabled the group to refurbish a factory and warehouse for use by the members. More recently we opened an Export Credit facility with the group to enable them to pre-finance orders from their European buyers.

Over the years, Gumutindo has had a huge impact on the communities they work with. They have created health facilities in the region, developed village microfinance banks, improved local roads and provided training and employment for thousands of individuals.

In particular, Gumutindo has focussed on improving the skills of women within these communities. Gumutindo has always promoted women’s involvement at all levels of the co-operative, 50% of their Board are

GuMutIndo

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women and 50% of all staff are female. Despite this female presence, Gumutindo realised that only 13% of their formal members were women.

Within the co-operative it is widely accepted that women farmers make a large contribution to the production of coffee on the smallholder farm but they often don’t receive financial rewards for their efforts, as most coffee is owned and sold by men. Gumutindo is trying to address the social injustice of this arrangement and is pushing for change that sees greater equality between men and women, at work and in the home.

Willington told us: “The mother is the backbone of the family on every farm, but traditionally it is the man that owns the farm. Women marketing their own coffee means more income for the family and greater equality between husband and wife.

“We believe that when the woman controls some of the family income, the family will benefit in a number of ways, and the woman’s status and capacity for independent action will improve. These desirable changes and measurable benefits will have positive effects within her family and her community.”

Mary nabuGobelo Is one farMer tHat Has been Involved In tHe scHeMe, Mary saId:

“I first heard about Gumutindo offering a good price for quality coffee in 2002. Without wasting any time I joined my society at Bumayoga. I got a good price for the coffee and a second payment which

I used to pay for my daughter’s tuition at Makerere University. At the society my fellow members elected me onto the committee and as a delegate to Gumutindo Board. I think they elected me because they know that I am hardworking and a woman who is competing with men to produce good quality coffee. My responsibility is to teach other women farmers to produce good quality coffee and to advise them to plant more coffee trees.

wHat Is arabIca?

Medium roasted Gumutindo AA Arabica Roast and Ground or Bean is well balanced with a good acidity and delicate lemony citrus notes. It is used in the “Women Grew This Blend”

Gumutindo have asked their female members to harvest, process and deliver their organic coffee to the society in their own names. There are a number of factors that allow women’s coffee to be sold at a premium:

• It is high quality; women take great care in harvesting and processing and do not take short cuts

• There is increasing interest from consumers in the origin of coffee and the stories of those who have produced it

• Most shopping tends to be done by women. These women want to know how their decision to purchase a certain brand of coffee affects the lives of the women that produced it

Coffee farmer Jennipher said: “Before, women would not stand up and talk in public. Now they participate in discussions in meetings. They propose. They oppose.”

Gumutindo’s coffee is available in the UK at most of the major supermarkets. You can also purchase online through Cafédirect and Equal Exchange UK.

At our 2013 Members’ Day and AGM, Martin Kyndt and David Bowman were elected onto the Shared Interest Board of Directors. Rod Gilpin and Liz Murphy were also elected as Council members.

Quarterly Return is the newsletter of Shared Interest.

Shared Interest Society Ltd is a fair trade lending organisation which is a member of Co-operatives UK. It uses the pooled investments of its members in the UK to effect real and lasting improvements to people’s lives in the developing world.

Shared Interest Society Ltd is registered with the Registrar of Friendly Societies, number 27093R.

The Directors decide on what the interest amount will be, if any, after the end of the financial year when financial results for the past year are known. From 1 October 2011 the interest rate has been 0.5%.

QR is printed on paper from sustainable, well managed sources certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

contact usShared Interest 2 Cathedral Square Groat Market Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1EH

0191 233 9102membership@shared-interest.com

A dedicated fair trade producer and manager of longstanding Shared Interest customer COCLA, Raúl has been a respected partner of ours for over ten years. Shared Interest’s Edwin Anarcaya said: “Committed to working with smallholder farmers, Raúl was recognised for his vision of improving the quality of life for producers in Peru. He was an outstanding supporter of fair trade and his legacy will continue to live on through his valuable work.” Raúl was well known by many members of the Shared Interest team and we echo the sentiments of Fairtrade International when we say that Raúl was truly one of the giants of the fair trade movement and will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues at this time.

an outstandInG supporter of faIr tradeIt is with great sadness and regret that we share the news of Raúl del Águila’s death.

Liz Murphy

Liz has worked for the NHS for 20 years as a midwife and nurse; she is currently based in Manchester. She has been a member of Shared Interest for the past four years and is thrilled to have been

randomly selected as a member of Council. Liz is Secretary of InterMancunia, a refugee football team in Moss Side and has been involved in fundraising with Amnesty International and George House Trust. Liz has also volunteered with the Black Health Agency in Manchester.

Rod Gilpin

Rod is a retired Mathematics teacher with a strong Christian faith who believes in helping others in any way that he can. In the past he has completed long distance charity walks for various

organisations, and even took part in a sponsored parachute jump for Help the Aged through his school. Rod believes that the best way to help others is to provide the resources for them to help themselves and thinks that the purpose of Shared Interest is to do just that. He welcomes the challenge to get further involved.

Martin Kyndt

Martin Kyndt has worked in the international development sector for over 25 years. Following a spell with Sightsavers, managing their programmes in Asia the Pacific and the Caribbean, he joined

Christian Aid in 2001. He is currently the Director of Organisational Development and Strategy, heading up corporate strategy development, performance and stakeholder accountability. His past non-executive roles have included being the Chair of ECLOF, a global micro-finance NGO based in Geneva and being the Treasurer of BOND. He is currently the Chair of Health Poverty Action and a co-opted member of Sightsavers Audit Committee.

David Bowman

David Bowman has a politics degree from Durham University. Following his degree, David became a Chartered Accountant who specialised in audit before joining a technology company where he

became Finance and Personnel Director. For the last 20 years he has worked with a varying portfolio of companies and charities as their part-time Finance Director/Controller. David campaigned for Jubilee Debt Cancellation and Trade Justice and has been a Director of a fair trade shop in Oxford. Since 2004, he has also been a Non-Executive Director of Traidcraft, chairing their audit committee.

councIl MeMbersnew board