 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | December 2006 |
| Founder | Christopher Chandler |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people |
|
| Website | www |
Legatum Limited, also known as Legatum, is a private investment firm, headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. [1] Legatum is a partnership that uses its own funds to invest globally. [2] [3] [4] The firm also invests in activities to promote entrepreneurship and free enterprise as well as anti-slavery, health and education initiatives. [5] [6] [7] [8] [1]
Legatum (meaning "legacy" or "gift" [9] ) is a private investment firm based in Dubai using only capital provided by members of the firm. [10] Legatum was founded in December 2006 in the United Arab Emirates by Christopher Chandler, who made his fortune in markets undergoing political transitions. [11] Previously, Chandler was the president of Sovereign Global, or Sovereign, which he co-founded with his brother Richard Chandler in 1986. Sovereign invested capital in companies located in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe, and in industries including telecommunications, electric utilities, steel, oil and gas, banking and oil refining. The Chandler brothers embarked on separate ventures following the de-merger of Sovereign in 2006. Christopher Chandler established Legatum the following December. [12] In 2012, Legatum purchased a building in the Dubai International Financial Centre for its global headquarters. The building was renamed Legatum Plaza, and the company moved into the building the following year. [13]
In 2015, Legatum transitioned to a partnership, consisting of Christopher Chandler, Mark Stoleson, Philip Vassiliou and Alan McCormick, providing a structure for the firm to continue operating beyond its founders. [14]
The firm's investment activities tend to focus on globally listed companies, markets in economic transition (such as Japan or China), or distressed situations. [15] [16]
Legatum was one of the first foreign commercial investors to provide critical equity capital to for-profit microfinance organizations in India, investing $25 million for a majority stake in SHARE Microfinance, India's leading microfinance institution. [17]
In 2006, the company co-founded an early charity crowdfunding platform, Razoo Global Corporation, based in Alexandria, VA. The platform has raised US$550 million in crowdfunding since its establishment. It announced a management buy-out of Legatum's holding in 2017. [18]
In 2007, Legatum purchased a significant minority stake in Intellecap, which provides consultancy advice to companies in Asia and Africa, and which it subsequently sold back to its owner, the Aavishkaar Group, in 2017. [19]
In 2008, Legatum and Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm founded by Pierre Omidyar, collaborated to co-invest a total of $40 million into Unitus Equity Fund II (now known as Elevar Equity). The fund is a commercial venture providing capital to businesses targeted at serving the poor in the developing world. [20] In 2021, Legatum invested in GB News, a new UK TV channel. [21] [22] [23]
Also in 2021, Legatum invested in Mobile Premier League, an esports and gaming platform. [24] [25]
As of 2014, Legatum had invested around US$80 million in 1,440 projects in 107 countries. [15] Legatum focuses on three core areas of philanthropic investment: development, entrepreneurship, and policy innovation. [26]
Legatum Foundation is the development arm of Legatum and invests in community-based organizations and projects around the world to help the poorest and most marginalized people and populations in society. [27] In 2015, Legatum established the Luminos Fund , a private donor philanthropic fund designed to develop and scale initiatives which promote education by helping out-of-school children get back to school. [28] [29] [30] The 2020 expansion of the Speed School Programme to Ethiopia was funded by the Foundation. [31] During the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, Luminos worked with Syrian refugees to offer educational support and therapeutic interventions for school-aged children. [32] By February 2020, the Luminos Fund had provided education for 132,611 children in Ethiopia, Lebanon and Liberia, whose access had been limited due to conflict, discrimination or poverty. [33]
Legatum founded the END Fund in 2012 to co-ordinate and support programmes to treat neglected tropical diseases, which affect over 1.5 billion people globally. [34] [35] [36] Legatum first started funding NTD work in 2006, after Legatum partner Alan McCormick visited Professor Alan Fenwick (Professor of Tropical Parasitology) at Imperial College London, who in turn had founded the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative in 2002. It has since led to Legatum investing over $10m in efforts to eliminate NTDs. [37] [38] Legatum has also funded more than one thousand community-based health initiatives that are solving common concerns in the developing world, like blindness and agricultural harm. [39]
In 2013, in partnership with Humanity United and Walk Free, Legatum established a $100 million fund called the Freedom Fund . [40] The aim of the fund is to help eradicate modern day slavery, an illegal industry that generates over $32 billion in profits every year around the world. [36] [41] [42] [43] Prior to the founding of the Fund, Legatum sponsored a 2012 information-gathering trip for non-profit organizations in Nepal and India to learn more about the human trafficking and slave-trade industries there. [44]
In 2007, Legatum established The Legatum Center for Entrepreneurship at MIT with the aim to create a generation of business leaders in developing countries by providing them with the skills needed to succeed as entrepreneurs. [45] [46] Fellowships are granted to students who show entrepreneurial ambition and an interest in making a lasting and positive economic impact on low-income countries. [47] [48]
Throughout 2017, the Center had distributed over $7 million to 213 fellows and launched enterprises across 40 countries. [49] The Legatum fellows have pursued businesses that tackle social issues such as improving sanitation by converting waste products into fertiliser in Kenya, establishing plastic recycling businesses in Nigeria, and improving the clothing industry's conditions in Tanzania. [9] [50]
Legatum established the annual Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship program, which recognises and rewards business leaders who serve as role models to Africa's aspiring entrepreneurs. [51] [52] The scheme has been in operation since 2007 and is now run by the African Leadership Network, with Legatum still involved as a lead sponsor. [53]
In 2008, Legatum partnered with Fortune magazine to announce the Legatum Fortune Technology Prize, a $1 million award intended to reward for-profit businesses who provide products and services to the needy through the use of technology. [54]
In 2013, Legatum launched the Centre for Entrepreneurs (CFE) in partnership with Luke Johnson to promote and support entrepreneurs in the UK. [55]
Legatum Foundation is a sponsor of the Legatum Institute, a policy, advisory and advocacy organization based in London. [56]
Omidyar Network is a self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over US$1.5 billion to nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies across multiple investment areas. According to the OECD, Omidyar Network's financing for 2019 development increased by 10% to US$58.9 million.
Jeffrey Stuart Skoll is a Canadian engineer, billionaire internet entrepreneur and film producer. He was the first president of eBay, eventually using the wealth this gave him to become a philanthropist, particularly through the Skoll Foundation, and his media company Participant Media. He founded an investment firm, Capricorn Investment Group, soon after and currently serves as its chairman. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he graduated from University of Toronto in 1987 and left Canada to attend Stanford University's business school in 1993.
Arif Masood Naqvi is a Pakistani-Kittian businessman, who was the founder and chief executive of the Dubai-based private equity firm, The Abraaj Group and Aman Foundation. The Abraaj Group was founded in 2002 and operated in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Turkey and Central Asia, and is currently in liquidation due to accusations of fraud.
Iqbal Z. Quadir is an entrepreneur and promoter of the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in creating prosperity in low-income countries. He has taught at Harvard Kennedy School and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the brother of Bangladeshi-American entrepreneur and artist Kamal Quadir.
The Abraaj Group was a private equity firm operating in six continents that is currently in liquidation due to accusations of fraud. The firm was founded by Pakistani businessman Arif Naqvi and was based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The Skoll Foundation is a private foundation based in Palo Alto, California. The foundation makes grants and investments intended to reduce global poverty. Jeffrey Skoll created the foundation in 1999.
Pioneers of Prosperity is an awards programme for entrepreneurs in Africa, the Caribbean and Central America that have created wealth and invested in their society. Its aim is to recognise and support today's successful enterprises and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs, leading to stronger, more sustainable development in these regions. Winning companies receive up to $100,000 to invest in their business.
Endeavor is an organization headquartered in New York City which supports entrepreneurs with potential for economic and social impact in their regions. The organization provides the entrepreneurs in its network with services that assist them in growing ventures, creating jobs, transforming economies, and supporting future generations of entrepreneurs.
Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an alignment of an investor's beliefs and values with the allocation of capital to address social and/or environmental issues.
The Legatum Institute is a think tank based in London, UK. Its stated aim is to advance the education of the public in national and international political, social and economic policy. The Institute has over forty donors including the Legatum Foundation. It has been called "arguably the most influential think tank in Britain pushing its free market pro-Brexit vision and enjoying privileged access to media and ministers" but it has attracted controversy as a result of its opaque, offshore funding.
Richard Fred Chandler is a New Zealand-born billionaire businessman. He is chairman of the Clermont Group, a Singapore-based conglomerate. Chandler "has a reputation for buying struggling companies and successfully rebuilding them," according to Australian Broadcasting Corporation News.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) is an African non-profit organization founded in 2010 by Tony O. Elumelu and headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. It is a pioneer member of the Global Impact Investment Rating System (GIIRS). So far, the Foundation has empowered over 18,000 African entrepreneurs across 54 African countries.
Silatech is an organization based in Qatar, founded by Mozah bint Nasser. The current CEO of this organization is Mr. Hassan Al Mulla. Silatech means "your connection" in Arabic. The initiative seeks to create jobs and economic opportunities for young people in the Arab world, targeting 18- to 30-year-olds. by 2016, Silatech claims to have helped 200,000 young Arabs to obtain jobs. The initiative’s model involves building partnerships with governments, private companies and NGOs.
OurCrowd is an online global venture investing platform that empowers institutions and individual accredited investors to invest and engage in emerging technology companies at an early stage while still privately held. Based in Jerusalem, the company launched in February 2013, and has since opened overseas branches in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Spain, Singapore, Brazil, and the UAE.
Robert Frederick Smith is an American billionaire businessman. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. He graduated from Cornell University with a chemical engineering degree and from Columbia Business School with an MBA, before working as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. In 2019, while delivering the commencement speech at Morehouse College, Smith pledged to pay off the entire $34 million of student loan debt of all of the members of the 2019 graduating class. In 2020, despite a team led by the Justice Department’s top tax prosecutor wanting to indict Smith on criminal charges, the then Attorney General William Barr allowed Smith to enter into a non-prosecution agreement requiring Smith to admit he had committed crimes, pay $139 million in fines and cooperate against a close business associate indicted in the largest tax-evasion case in U.S. history - Texas software mogul Robert T. Brockman.
Christopher Chandler is a New Zealand businessman and founder of Dubai-based investment company Legatum which also provides funding for UK media channel GB News.
Scripbox is a Bengaluru-based digital wealth management service founded in 2012.
The END Fund is a private non-profit organisation dedicated to combating the five most common neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that cause up to 90% of the NTD burden in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Luminos Fund is a non-profit organisation helping children in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East excluded from school due to poverty, discrimination, or conflict to have access to education. The fund was launched by Legatum in 2016.
