Matthew Spacie

Last updated

Matthew Spacie
Born
Matthew Spacie

(1967-01-19) January 19, 1967 (age 56)
United Kingdom
Alma mater
Occupation(s) Social entrepreneur, Humanitarian
Years active1986–present
Known forFounder of Magic Bus
Board member ofDASRA
SpouseAshima Narain
Children3
Awards
Website Matthew Spacie bio at Magic Bus

Matthew Spacie (born 19 January 1967) is India-based British entrepreneur, humanitarian, and a former international rugby player. [1] Matthew is the co-founder of Cleartrip, [2] a global online travel company. [3] He is also the former chief operating officer (COO) of the travel group, Cox & Kings Ltd. [4] He is the founder of Magic Bus [5] (also known as the Magic Bus India Foundation), a non-governmental organisation working with children and youth taking them from childhood to livelihood. [6] [3] [7]

Contents

He has been accorded numerous accolades including Member of the Order of the British Empire [8] and Business Standard Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2018. [1]

Career

Born to an Army father in Cyprus, Matthew is a British citizen and currently lives in Mumbai, India, with his family. [9] He attended boarding school in the United Kingdom. [10] He first came to India in 1986 at the age of nineteen and worked as a volunteer with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity organisation in Calcutta when he was just out of college. [8] [4]

Matthew returned to the UK, to pursue graduate studies in BA Humanities at the Nottingham Trent University and New York State University. Following his graduation and a number of management positions in the UK, Matthew was posted to India in 1996, as the chief operating officer of the travel group Cox & Kings Ltd. [8] During his time at Cox & Kings, Matthew played rugby for the Indian national team [4] and was awarded international rugby caps for India and playing in the World Cup Qualifiers in 2001. [11] He spent much of his spare time practicing rugby at the Bombay Gymkhana. Outside his club, he observed a group of boys, hanging around its premises, watching the game with interest. He invited them into the club and began coaching them. [12] [13]

In 1999, Matthew founded Magic Bus with a group of street and slum-dwelling children from Mumbai. [2] It was an opportunity for these children to engage in sports as a momentary relief from their day-to-day challenges. In 2001, Matthew resigned his job at Cox & Kings to focus full time on Magic Bus. [7] He teamed up with an NGO named Akanksha with the intention of providing children a weekend break away from the difficulties of their everyday lives. Every fortnight he hired a bus taking the rugby boys to mentor younger children from local NGOs, to a hill station or the beach. [12] The children started calling this the Magic Bus. At an early stage Matthew saw that using sport and good local mentors to intervene and influence young vulnerable people was an effective way to change behavior and move people from poverty. [13]

Magic Bus is one of the largest non profits in India that leads the fight against poverty. [9] Since its inception in 1999, Magic Bus has transformed the lives of more than one million children and young people and helped them move out of poverty through its childhood to livelihood programme. [14] [4] [7] [15] [16]

In 2006, Matthew co-founded Cleartrip which is an online travel company rendering services across the globe. [17] [2]

Matthew was on the Global Advisory Boards of Etihad Airlines and currently sits on the board of DASRA. [10]

Awards and achievements

YearTitle
2001Awarded international rugby caps for India and playing in the World Cup Qualifiers. [11]
2002Elected to the Ashoka Fellowship. [18]
2007Awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by the Queen of the United Kingdom for services to children in the Commonwealth. [8]
2013Appointed as an Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy (ACSEP) Fellow from the National University of Singapore [19]
2014His organisation's Magic Bus has been recognized at the Laureus World Sports Awards. [9] [6]
2014Magic Bus India won the President's Rashtriya Khel Protsahan award for promotion and development of Sports. [6]
2015Matthew was awarded Beyond Sport Leadership Award. [20]
2016His organization Magic Bus won Charity of the year award at the Asian Voice Charity Awards, UK. [21]
2016Magic Bus won UEFA Foundation for Children Award. [22]
2017Magic Bus won the Sports Illustrated, Special Award for Services to Sports Award. [23]
2018Recognized as India's Top educational influencers by Scoo News. [7]
2018Won the Business Standard Social Entrepreneur of the year. [1]

Personal life

Matthew is married to Ashima Narain with three children. [24] [25] Matthew met Ashima in Mumbai. Ashima is a wildlife photographer and documentary filmmaker. [10] [26] She has shot documentary films titled The Last Dance and In the Pink. [27] [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Greek Kingdom</span> Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom in northwestern South Asia (200 BC–10 AD)

The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India. This kingdom was in existence from c. 200 BC to c. 10 AD.

Pratham is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India. It was co-founded by Madhav Chavan and Farida Lambay. It works towards the provision of quality education to the underprivileged children in India. Established in Mumbai in 1995 to provide pre-school education to children in slums, Pratham today has interventions spread across 23 states and union territories of India and has supporting chapters in the United States, UK, Germany, Sweden, and Australia.

Vijay Mahajan is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chetna Sinha</span>

Chetna Gala Sinha is an Indian social entrepreneur working to empower women in areas of rural India by teaching entrepreneurial skills, access to land and means of production.

Tzedek is a UK-based registered charity organisation which aims to provide a Jewish response to the problem of extreme global poverty. Registered as a charity in 1993, Tzedek has a number of overseas development programmes, working closely with local NGOs to alleviate extreme poverty in Northern Ghana and Northeast & Southeast India. As well as supporting local NGOs within these regions, Tzedek aims to develop the leadership skills of young Jewish leaders within the community to provide a long-term, sustainable solution to global poverty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in India</span> Major social issue in India

Homelessness is a major issue in India. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines 'homeless' as those who do not live in a regular residence. The United Nations Economic and Social Council Statement has a broader definition for homelessness; it defines homelessness as follows: ‘When we are talking about housing, we are not just talking about four walls and a roof. The right to adequate housing is about security of tenure, affordability, access to services and cultural adequacy. It is about protection from forced eviction and displacement, fighting homelessness, poverty and exclusion. India defines 'homeless' as those who do not live in Census houses, but rather stay on pavements, roadsides, railway platforms, staircases, temples, streets, in pipes, or other open spaces. There are 1.77 million homeless people in India, or 0.15% of the country's total population, according to the 2011 census consisting of single men, women, mothers, the elderly, and the disabled. However, it is argued that the numbers are far greater than accounted by the point in time method. For example, while the Census of 2011 counted 46,724 homeless individuals in Delhi, the Indo-Global Social Service Society counted them to be 88,410, and another organization called the Delhi Development Authority counted them to be 150,000. Furthermore, there is a high proportion of mentally ill and street children in the homeless population. There are 18 million street children in India, the largest number of any country in the world, with 11 million being urban. Finally, more than three million men and women are homeless in India's capital city of New Delhi; the same population in Canada would make up approximately 30 electoral districts. A family of four members has an average of five homeless generations in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeroo Billimoria</span> Indian businesswoman

Jeroo Billimoria is an Indian social entrepreneur and the founder of several international NGOs. Her work has been featured in several books. Her most recent initiatives include Aflatoun, Childline India Foundation and Child Helpline International. Her most recent initiative is Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI), which Jeroo founded in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vasu Primlani</span>

Ritu Vasu Primlani is an Indian stand-up comedian and environmentalist. She received the 2015 Nari Shakti Puraskar from the Government of India for her work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandra Shekhar Ghosh</span> Indian businessman

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, is the Founder, MD & CEO of Bandhan Bank. He has been one of the foremost proponents of financial inclusion in India. He has more than 30 years of experience in the microfinance and development terrain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rita Panicker</span>

Rita Panicker Pinto is the founder and director of Butterflies India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anshu Gupta</span> Indian social entrepreneur

Anshu Gupta is an Indian entrepreneur. He founded the non-governmental organization Goonj. Goonj works on bridging urban and rural inequality. It does this by channelizing the urban surplus to initiate rural upliftment, disaster relief, and rehabilitation. Through Goonj, Anshu is building a parallel trash-based economy by creating barter between rural communities and urban surplus material. Anshu has been recognized by the Ramon Magsaysay foundation for his "creative vision in transforming the culture of giving in India".

Cleartrip is a global online travel company, headquartered in Mumbai. The company operates an online travel aggregator website for booking flights, train tickets, hotel reservations, and activities in India and the Middle East countries. It holds offices across India, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrikant Bhasi</span> Indian entrepreneur

Shrikant Bhasi, is an Indian entrepreneur. He is also the founder and chairman of the Carnival Group, a diversified corporate group with interests in multiplex, media, entertainment, hospitality and real estate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adhik Kadam</span> Indian social entrepreneur

Adhik Kadam is an Indian social entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is on a peacebuilding and peacekeeping mission, working in the conflict zones of Jammu and Kashmir. Kadam has completed a master's degree in political science. He is a co-founder and the chairman of Borderless World Foundation, which is an NGO that works for the deprived and victimized people of the border areas of India. The NGO runs four orphanage homes for girls in four districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bunty Walia</span> Indian Film Producer

Guneet "Bunty" Walia is an Indian film producer and sport entrepreneur. He has produced films like Lamhaa, Hello Brother, Ek Ajnabee and Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya starring actors like Arbaaz Khan, Dharmendra and Salman Khan. He is the COO for the Jaipur Pink Panthers,, the PKL team is officially managed by Walia's sports management firm, GS Sports. He has been with the team since its inception and is an active voice in the base strategies of the Jaipur Pink Panthers.

Russell Arunbhai Mehta is an Indian businessman. He is the managing director of Rosy Blue India, the Indian arm of the family-owned Indian conglomerate with interests in retail, media, real estate, financial services and diamonds Rosy Blue.

Deep Kalra is an Indian businessman who is the Founder & Chairman of MakeMyTrip, an Indian online travel company.

The/Nudge Institute is an Indian non-profit organization. It was established in July 2015 in Bengaluru. The/Nudge exists to alleviate poverty, sustainably, collaboratively and at scale. It has three impact streams to tackle the complex issue of poverty from multiple angles – Centre for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (CSDE), Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) & Centre for Rural Development (CRD).

Gloria de Souza was a social entrepreneur and the first fellow of the international non-profit organization Ashoka. She was known for her work in educational reform and modern social entrepreneurship. She began working in Mumbai, India as a primary school teacher and in 1971, while she was teaching at a private Jesuit school, de Souza was prompted to make changes by adopting experiential and environmental methods in her curriculum. She noted that India's rate of brain drain was high at the time and wanted to change the educational system as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bina Sheth Lashkari</span> Indian Doorstep school founder in India

Bina Sheth Lashkari is an Indian Doorstep school founder in India. Over 30 years she has helped to organise the education of 100,000 children in Mumbai. In 2013 she was awarded the Stree Shakti Puraskar

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Business Standard CSR awards 2017: Power-packed jury picks best three". Business Standard . 20 March 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Ramanathan, Arundhati (15 September 2015). "Magic Bus builds on Indian model to become a global NGO". Mint .
  3. 1 2 Goyal, Malini (25 August 2013). "Matthew Spacie's Magic Bus uses sports-based activities to transform underprivileged children's lives". The Economic Times .
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Matthew Spacie – Founder and Executive Chairman of Magic Bus". IUE Magazine.
  5. ↑ "Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Assam, Magic Bus and Nestlé India commemorate World Health Day in Guwahati". The Dairy Times. 7 April 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 "Hop onto a magic bus this marathon". Daily News and Analysis .
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Being the Founder and Executive Chairman of Magic Bus". ScooNews (issuu): 32. 19 January 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Magic Bus chairman gets 'Member of British Empire'". The Economic Times . 21 January 2007.
  9. 1 2 3 "Indian NGO Magic Bus gets recognition at Laureus awards". The Times of India . 27 March 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 Jenkins, Cordelia (14 March 2013). "Magic Bus: Reaching out to slums with sport". Mint .
  11. 1 2 "Matthew Spacie, MBE, Founder, Magic Bus". Ed Brainstorm.
  12. 1 2 Kapadia, Payal (17 July 2006). "Air-Conditioned Gypsy On His Magic Caravan". Outlook (Indian magazine) .
  13. 1 2 "We often take it for granted in this country what a wonderful opportunity playing a team sport like rugby is". The Daily Telegraph . 28 October 2015.
  14. ↑ "Wheels of change: Magic Bus is helping the youth break the cycle of poverty through skills training". Dailyhunt .
  15. ↑ "Like and share". Mid-Day . 22 February 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  16. ↑ Kappal, Bhanuj (22 February 2019). "The Magic Bus journey: from childhood to livelihood". Mint .
  17. ↑ "Crystal clear: Using design as a differentiator in a crowded market". NDTV. 10 March 2014.
  18. ↑ "Matthew Spacie (Ashoka Fellowship)". Ashoka.org .
  19. ↑ "Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy (ACSEP)". National University of Singapore .
  20. ↑ "Beyond Sport Awards 2015 winners announced". Sport and Dev. 20 October 2015.
  21. ↑ "Asian Voice Charity Awards powered by Charity Clarity winners". Asian Voice charity Awards.
  22. ↑ "2016 UEFA Foundation for Children Awards". UEFA Foundation .
  23. ↑ "Sindhu Wins Magic Bus & Sports Illustrated Award". Indian Television. 7 July 2017.
  24. ↑ "Family Function". Mumbai Mirror . 16 August 2017.
  25. ↑ Narain, Ashima (14 May 2018). "Visiting grandparents is a journey into an everexpanding shared history". PressReader .
  26. ↑ "Prestigious recognition". Mid-Day . 10 March 2017.
  27. ↑ Kannadasan, Akila (21 March 2013). "Through the lens, softly". The Hindu .
  28. ↑ Ganguly, Nivedita (17 January 2015). "'In the pink' of documenting life". The Hindu .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.