The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust is looking for a Finance Manager (0.2 FTE) to start from October 2026 or as soon after that as available.
The Trust is one of the largest philanthropic scholarship programmes delivered in partnership with the University of Oxford. It enables outstanding young professionals from mainly low- and middle-income countries to pursue fully funded graduate studies at the University of Oxford, alongside a specially created Leadership Programme that equips them to lead change in their countries or regions of origin.
FINANCE MANAGER 0.2 FTE
Salary: £15K p.a. (equates to annual salary of £75K and including VAT where applicable). Paid monthly in 12 equal instalments. Services: Reporting to the CEO and working with a small team, the post-holder is responsible for the effective financial control of the Charity. Role and title: Finance Manager Location: Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust, 70 Walton Street, Oxford OX2 6AG Working hours: On average one day per week. Both parties note that there will be variability in working hours from one week to the next depending on the activities of the Charity. Notice period: 6 weeks. Working with:
CEO
Chair of the Board
External Auditors
Suppliers
Details of Services to be provided by the Finance Manager:
The Finance Manager will report to the Chief Executive.
To be responsible for the analysis, development, management, production and review of all financial strategies, systems, budgets, forecasts, data and reporting and for other matters of resource and business management as agreed with the Chief Executive.
To assist the Chief Executive in the development and management of the Charity’s strategic business plan, budgets and other financial plans.
To ensure the delivery of accurate, appropriate, regular and timely financial management information for the Chief Executive, and the Board (which meets 3 times a year), to ensure the successful delivery of the Charity’s financial strategy.
To ensure charitable, company, tax (Gift Aid) and statutory filing and compliance to ensure the Charity meets its legal obligations and objectives including the filing of accounts and other legally required documentation.
To liaise with third parties as appropriate including bankers, HMRC and the Charity Commission.
To ensure the efficient and appropriate management of cash and banking arrangements.
To act as financial adviser to the Chief Executive and Board of the Charity.
To run the day-to-day accounting and banking system.
To manage the outsourced payroll provider and arrange payment of staff salaries and expenses, PAYE, NI and pension contributions.
Essential experience
Significant demonstrable experience in finance and operations within the charity sector.
Qualified (ACA, ACCA, CIMA etc. or equivalent).
A proven track record in budgeting, forecasting, cashflow management, and financial modelling.
Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
Experience of managing compliance areas such as data protection, cyber security, insurance and risk (desirable).
Annual Leave: 25 days annual leave plus statutory bank holidays (pro rata for part-time posts). Additional leave to be taken over the Christmas and New Year period (pro rata for part-time posts). NB: This Job Description cannot be considered to be exhaustive and other duties not included above may arise. On the understanding that such duties are commensurate with the purpose of the job and have been identified as such by the Chief Executive and advised to the post holder, such additional duties shall form part of the requirement of this post. Working arrangement/contract: the role can be undertaken as a part-time, permanent member of staff of the Charity, or as a consultant on a contract for services. The role can be undertaken through a ombination of in-person and remote working. The Trust operates from its own premises at 70 Walton Street, Oxford.
Pension: The Trust operates a company pension scheme (in which you will be automatically enrolled as a permanent member of staff unless you choose to opt out).
How to apply
Send a CV and covering letter of application setting out your experience in relation to the requirements and experience outlined in the role description to: Dame Hilary Boulding, Chief Executive, Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust at hilary.boulding@whtrust.org
Shabana Basij-Rasikh – Afghan educator, humanitarian and co-founder of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA) – recently appeared on the BBC Today programme, where she raised concerns about the UK government’s decision to pause study visas for applicants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan, as well as work visas for Afghans.
Born in Kabul, Shabana experienced first-hand the barriers to girls’ education under Taliban rule, at times disguising herself as a boy to attend school. She later continued her education in the United States and went on to found SOLA, the first all-girls Afghan boarding school, now operating in Rwanda and expanding its reach globally through its online platform, SOLAx. Through her work, Shabana continues to advocate for access to education and opportunities for Afghan girls worldwide.
All of us at WHT were deeply saddened by the UK Government’s decision to impose a ‘visa brake’ on student visas for nationals of Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar and Cameroon. We are actively working to explain the impact on affected applicants and will continue to seek a dialogue on this issue. Professor Ngaire Woods and Aziz Magid from Oxford have also commented in The Guardian on the government’s decision to halt these visas, highlighting concerns about its impact on access to opportunity and global talent. The colleges Mansfield and Somerville have issued a joint statement on the emergency brake.
WHT Scholars from Keble and Lincoln Colleges enjoyed a relaxing day in the countryside at Trustee George Robinson’s home on Saturday the 14th of March. We are grateful to Mr Robinson for his generous hospitality and for a wonderful lunch.
WHT Scholars from Keble and Lincoln Colleges with Trustee George Robinson and guests at his home. George Robinson is pictured in the back row, third from the left.
Mr George Robinson is a philanthropist and the founder of the Sloane Robinson Foundation. Together with Hugh Sloane, the foundation provides scholarships for overseas students to study in Britain and for British students to study abroad. He is also an active investor in early-stage technology and biotech companies and co-founded Technikos, a private equity partnership which invests in spin-out companies from the Oxford University Institute of Biomedical Engineering.
He graduated with a BA in Engineering Science from Keble College, Oxford and is an honorary fellow of the college as well as a member of the Oxford University Endowment Investment Committee.
The WHT welcomed 34 new scholars in September this year. Read our newsletter to find out more about what they have up to, along with updates from our alumni and the WHT house. Happy Christmas from everyone at WHT!
The Trustees of the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust (WHT) are delighted to announce the appointment of Dame Hilary Boulding as its next Chief Executive Officer. She will take up the position in September 2025, succeeding Alexandra Henderson. After 13 years of outstanding service, Alexandra will gradually step back as Chief Executive during the 2024/25 academic year and transition to a continuing role as a Trustee.
Dame Hilary Boulding
Dame Hilary Boulding said: ‘I’m delighted to be joining the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust as its Chief Executive. I have huge admiration for the Trust’s work and the exceptional quality of its scholars, who share a commitment to making a significant and positive impact on the world. Many of its alumni are making a vital and meaningful contribution across the globe.’
A long-time supporter of the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust, Dame Hilary’s passion for education and extending opportunity aligns with our mission to nurture, inspire and empower young global leaders from emerging and developing economies. The Trustees are confident that under Hilary’s leadership, the Trust will continue to grow and expand its impact.
She will join the Trust following the completion of her 8-year term as President of Trinity College, Oxford, the first female President in the College’s 460-year history. In that role she has led Trinity College through a period of substantial development of its physical estate, widening the field of student recruitment, and enhancing the student experience through investment in their personal development and leadership skills. Prior to her role at Trinity College, Dame Hilary served as Principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, responsible for training exceptionally talented young people for careers in the arts and creative industries.
She has held senior roles in the UK’s arts, cultural and educational sectors: she had a 20-year career in broadcasting as a Producer, Director and Commissioning Editor with the BBC, and was subsequently appointed Director of Music Strategy for Arts Council England. Her contributions were recognised in 2017 with the award of a DBE for services to culture and education in Wales.
WHT Trustee, Mr André Hoffmann, said: ‘As we welcome Hilary, we look forward to an exciting new chapter in the Trust’s journey, with great anticipation for the future under her leadership.
We also wish to express our huge appreciation to Alexandra Henderson for her remarkable leadership and dedication to the Trust. During her tenure as CEO, Alexandra Henderson has been the driving force behind the Trust’s evolution from a bold vision into a world-renowned educational programme with a profound impact. Her leadership has been marked by her unwavering dedication to the Trust’s mission of nurturing future global leaders. Under her guidance, the Trust has grown significantly, expanding its scholarship offerings, strengthening its leadership development programmes, and establishing a vibrant and diverse community of scholars from around the world.
The current WHT Chair, Mr Michael Lewis, added: ‘Alexandra’s remarkable ability to connect with scholars, donors, and partners alike has created a lasting network of support and collaboration, which has been instrumental to the Trust’s success. Her vision, boundless energy, and passion have not only transformed the Trust, but also enriched the lives of countless scholars who have gone on to become influential leaders in their respective fields.’
The Trustees wish to express their deepest gratitude for Alexandra’s outstanding contributions. Her legacy will continue to inspire the Trust’s work, and her ongoing involvement as a Trustee will ensure that her invaluable experience and insight remain integral to the Trust’s future.’
Notes to Editors
The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme cultivates the leaders of tomorrow by providing outstanding university graduates and professionals from mainly developing and emerging economies with the opportunity to pursue fully-funded graduate studies at the University of Oxford, combined with a comprehensive programme of leadership development, long-term mentoring and networking. In the past 17 years, the programme has supported around 450 scholars from nearly 100 countries.
The Scholarships were established in 2007. The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust was co-founded in 2014 by Lord Weidenfeld and Mr André Hoffmann. In 2014, Lord Weidenfeld’s friends including Dr Sigrid Rausing and Mr Eric Abraham, Lord Blavatnik, Trustee and current Chairman Mr Michael Lewis, and Weidenfeld family members – Dr Alina Barnett and Mr Ben Barnett, marked his 95th birthday by raising funds to endow the scholarships as part of a match funding partnership with the University of Oxford. A second significant contribution by the Trust’s first Chairman André Hoffmann in 2017 ensured an endowment for 30 Scholarships in perpetuity. In addition, the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust has benefited from the considerable support of partners including the Louis -Dreyfus Foundation, GRoW @ Annenberg, Hertford College, Keble College, Lincoln College, Mansfield College, St Antony’s College, St Edmund Hall, Trinity College and Worcester College.
In 2024, WHT moved to a new home in Walton Street, Jericho, Oxford, where they provide a space for current scholars to congregate for the Leadership Programme and an MCR meeting space for over 400 visiting alumni.
It brings us great joy to share that WHT has acquired a house in central Oxford. The house serves as our official building as well as a ‘home away from home’ for the WHT community of current scholars and alumni.Read more about the house here.
In August 2024, we published our latest Annual Report. The cohort of 2023/24 – 30 WHT scholars from 24 countries, including 8 Hope Scholars from Ukraine, Russia, Kenya, Syria, and Sudan – shared their reflections on our flagship Leadership Programme and their time at Oxford. The report also provides an annual update on our strategic initiatives and projects, including the acquisition of a new home for WHT in central Oxford, and includes updates from alumni and funding related information.
To mark this significant milestone, c. 200 alums, donors, and supporters came together in London and Oxford to celebrate and reconnect.
We are very grateful for the generosity of our donors, our partner the University of Oxford, and especially our co-founder and Trustee André Hoffmann who have made this achievement possible.
14 June 2023 WHT 15th Anniversary Drinks Reception
6 July 2023 WHT 15th Anniversary End-Of-Year Dinner
Living in tumultuous times is experienced differently by different generations. “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,” wrote William Wordsworth in the 1790s, entranced by the French Revolution. “But to be young was very heaven!” The poet was expressing the excitement of youth, which is often contrasted with the pragmatism or even disillusion of later years. The current juncture in world affairs, however, goes well beyond this hackneyed distinction.
The biggest issues facing policymakers, which will remain long after the pandemic has receded, will affect future generations more than today’s. People currently in education or at the start of their working lives ought to be able to look forward to higher living standards than those enjoyed by their parents and grandparents.
The author concludes with, “It would not be hyperbole to say that training leaders from the emerging economies across continents may just be the most important educational venture for a world emerging from a historic crisis.”
The Enterprise Challenge, as part of our Leadership Programme has provided extra tools and knowledge to empower each cohort to think outside their academic disciplines. By providing workshops, mentorship and business expertise, our scholars have been encouraged to work up their own business enterprise ideas to learn essential problem-solving skills and transferable business knowledge.
Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholar, Tafadzwa Matika and team, with their Enterprise Challenge start-up Hande, were finalists in the Santander X Entrepreneurship Awards in October 2021
Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholar, Tafadzwa Matika and team, with their Enterprise Challenge start-up Hande, were finalists in the Santander X Entrepreneurship Awards in October 2021 [/caption]
For the second year running, we were delighted to award Seed Fund grants for the scholars to start their enterprises. The WHT Enterprise Challenge Seed Fund enables scholars to make an impact through ventures that they create during their time in Oxford. We are very pleased to see these ideas finding their feet in the real world and hopes to support them further.
We are happy to share the enterprises from the 2020/21 cohort that received the grants to take their ideas further.
SmartZero by Tamarie Rocke from Belize
SmartZero is a soap refill service that sells soaps and cleaning liquids around villages in rural Belize. People living in rural Belize have a hard time getting household essentials and must purchase them more frequently, at a higher cost – this means lots of plastic rubbish! This idea is the culmination of Tamarie’s two years of personal transition to a zero-waste lifestyle, coupled with her passion for rural community outreach.
Arcua by Melissa Penagos Gaviria and Maria Mercedes Kuri from Colombia
Arcua offers a unique way for companies and individuals to offset the carbon emissions they generate by supporting communities that protect the forest in Colombia. The project helps rural farmers to convert their land to native forest and start receiving revenue from them. Arcua will help to develop the projects, certify them, and sell the credits to investors.
Nutriendo El Futuro by Samuel A. Diaz from Venezuela
Nutriendo El Futuro contributes to the community of Calvario Alto (Municipality of El Hatillo) by creating a community kitchen and, consequently, creating a non-profit Civil Association, which contributes to its empowerment, through training and education activities, and the recovery of community spaces.
Hande by Taf Matika from Zimbabwe
Hande is a last-mile delivery service, courier and e-commerce platform that helps small to medium enterprises to connect with their customers as quickly and conveniently as possible. Zimbabwe has tens of thousands of SMEs. The vast majority of these cannot make deliveries, so Hande offers these businesses an online marketplace and on-demand delivery services to comfortably reach more customers and grow their reach. Since graduation, the team of Hande were finalists at the Santander X Entrepreneurship Awards and recently have been selected as a top 10 UK start up, for the UK Accelerate (post revenue) category.
Tafadzwa (Left), with his team, getting ready to pitch their enterprise start-up Hande as finalists at the Santander X Entrepreneurship Awards
We wish all the enterprise team seed fund recipients’ good luck on their growth journeys.
We continue to follow the progress of our alumni in using the seed funding received to build on the concepts developed through the Enterprise Challenge. We are excited to share some updates from projects that received seed funding support from WHT a year later.
Francisco Obando from Ecuador has developed an MVP for his project Enotis, a web-based tool for “community”-level mass prioritization and decision making. He is securing partnerships with the University of Oxford to run the first pilot.
The power team behind “Hace la fuerza” project has managed to build the online platform, conduct a series of webinars and secure strategic partnerships for scaling up. The goal is to create a community of women professionals from Latin America that provide mentoring opportunities and career advice.
Andrea Terminel from Mexico is starting her ‘Help Beyond’ project. She is offering a platform that connects care and domestic service workers (nannies, cooks, cleaners, and people caring for the elderly) to formal job opportunities. She has just launched the website https://b-home.webflow.io/
We are very excited to see so the progress in the ventures supported by the seed funding, our team, including alumni and the Enterprise Challenge. We expect this will embolden our current scholars that their dreams, with teamwork, can become a reality.
Weidenfel-Hoffmann Scholars – Class of 2021 at the Induction meeting
Set up in 2012 as a partnership between the Louis Dreyfus Foundation and the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust, the program has since funded scholars from a variety of backgrounds and countries pursuing business, law, research, education, health and political studies, with those who receive full scholarships undertaking a four- to nine-month internship after completing their studies.
In 2020/21, as part of our commitment to supporting young talents, LDC joined forces with the Foundation to offer internships to Tania Risco Ruiz and Dennis Njunge, two outstanding postgraduate students supported through the scholarship program.
Tania is from Peru and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, specializing in rural economic development, gender equality and socio-environmental impacts of extractive industries. In 2020, she graduated from Oxford University with a Master’s degree in Environmental Change and Management.
Her assignment should have taken Tania to Argentina to support our projects with the Foundation in the region, but due to Covid-19 her internship transformed into a three-month remote program that she ran from Oxford. Her research focused on identifying the characteristics of family farming models and the framework of agricultural policies in Argentina, while finding new potential partners for the Foundation.
Tania also helped LDC’s regional Safety, Health & Environment team to standardize data and processes related to sustainable water management across the company’s facilities in South & West Latin America, and was impressed by their dedication to working safely and sustainably.
“I sensed the team’s strong commitment to enhancing LDC’s sustainability practices – in the region and across the world,” she says.
After graduating, Tania intends to return to Peru, more committed than ever to improving the food security of vulnerable populations and doing her part for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger.
A Kenyan national, Dennis Njunge completed his Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Management at Kenyatta University, before undertaking his Master’s degree in Water Science Policy and Management at Oxford University.
During his internship, Dennis worked with experts, who provided guidance on agricultural policies, strategies and programs in Kenya, to develop recommendations to guide the Foundation’s priorities in the country. This involved identifying the key organizations working in the agricultural sector and mapping potential partners who align with the Foundation’s vision.
He also worked with LDC’s Coffee Platform in Nairobi on sustainable coffee sourcing and pricing, and enjoyed the opportunity this provided to visit local coffee cooperatives.
“I gained invaluable experience and knowledge in project cycle management and presentation, not to mention the network I was able to develop!” he says.
Dennis remains dedicated to solving water-related challenges in a country with perennial water problems. He intends to return to Kenya to advise national authorities on water provision and environmental policies, with a specific focus on local communities that are often overlooked.
Since 2012, the Louis Dreyfus-Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarship Program has funded over 80 scholars from 40 different developing and emerging economies across the globe, with the aim of empowering future leaders in food security and sustainability. They are already making a significant positive difference in their regions and countries of origin, thanks to their involvement in a variety of projects working across a wide range of fields, from business to education, and from health to the environment. Alexandra Henderson, CEO of the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust adds:
“We are so grateful to Margarita Louis-Dreyfus for supporting this new programme from its early days. Thanks to this the students have a life changing opportunity to study at one of the world’s top Universities combined now with the opportunity to participate in an internship with one of the Foundation’s projects and get unique insight into LDF’s important work.”
Tania and Dennis are the most recent in this long line of young talents supported by the scholarship program. With their passion, commitment and skills, and now equipped with their professional experience within LDC, they too seem set to help drive sustainable development in their respective countries.
The Louis Dreyfus alumni webinar was a great example of the WHT network’s pervasiveness. In 60 minutes, we enjoyed context-specific insights on food security, education and sustainability. These are tremendously complex issues. But in sprints of 5 minutes, each scholar summarised delightful learnings from different sectors. Two of the alumni that participated offer some reflections. You can rewatch the full webinar on youtube
Choosing and Financing Short Term and Long Term Goals
Antonio Beun (Argentina, Master in Public Policy, 2019 Louis Dreyfus-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann) from the panel “Big Meets Small – How can central banks, central governments, and NGOs support small scale farmers and communities?”
Si Ying stressed the importance of being financially inclusive from a central bank standpoint, given that small farmers tend to fall outside of the formal banking system. Tanvi underlined the importance of tailoring NGOs’ policy design to ground-reality, instead of oversimplified templates used by funding structures based on universal and de-contextualised concepts. From a public sector perspective, we argued that many governments are under huge financial stress and their agenda combines challenges of the past –which are still unresolved– and new, emerging challenges. We put COVID-19 as an example of how it has compounded rural development problems that were quite pressing before the pandemic. We explained the importance of helping governments to prioritize in light of such an ever-expanding set of important issues. Because otherwise, governments tend to take the path of least resistance: embracing everything at the same time with little results.
Due to climate change, what is at stake for small farmers in the coming decade is tremendous. While there are no easy answers to what is coming, one certainty is that diversity will help us build comprehensive and creative foundations to tackle new challenges. My key reflection after the webinar is precisely that. A diverse group of people is always better equipped to tackle new and uncertain challenges.
Nature and Society should not be at Odds
Lekha Sridhar (India, Master in Public Policy, 2014 Louis Dreyfus – Chevening) from the panel “Nature and Society – How do we improve the relationship between the different parts of society and between society and nature?”
Research and technological advances now show that nature and society do not have to be at odds — agroforestry and nature-based solutions can not only reduce carbon emissions, but can also sequester carbon. In addition, as more corporations commit to climate targets and ‘no deforestation’ pledges, there is also strong motivation within the land use sector to make these solutions mainstream. However, the challenge is twofold, (a) making these techniques economically viable for smallholders through financial inclusion and long-term market access, and (b) ensuring traceability in the supply chain to build credibility among corporations, off-takers and consumers. Both these issues are connected: how can we trace emissions to the source, so that farmers can be incentivised for adopting climate friendly practices, and corporations are able to provide credible information to their consumers that their products meet environmental goals?
The webinar served as a platform to share the inspiring work WHT alumni are leading to help small farmers around the world. It also helped to learn from one another. But ultimately, the webinar proved the success of WHT and LDF of living to their core value of diversity. In other words, the webinar’s positive outcome has been possible due to the diversity embedded in the essence of WHT’s mission.
The WHT Enterprise Challenge Seed Fund supports make impact through ventures that create change around the world.
This year with the help of our generous Trustees and alumni, WHT has launched the Enterprise Challenge Seed Fund. The Fund supports social impact ventures originated by WHT alumni during their time in Oxford. The Trust is very pleased to see these ideas finding their feet in the real world and hopes to support them further.
We are happy to share the enterprises that have won a grant from the Fund and invite you to follow their progress. Alumni and current scholars are welcome to get in touch if they are interested in getting involved in these projects or want to apply to the Seed Fund to support their own ventures.
We are an innovative fintech platform that advances financial inclusion to close the gender gap in Latin America. Inspira me provides professional tailored financial services to women through guidance, financial education, as part of a community which is a safe space to ask questions and share experiences. Based on data, we deliver real-time advice and feedback when they ask for credit, save, and invest, helping them understand products for which they are eligible to achieve their unique financial goals.
Enotis is a web-based tool for “community”-level mass prioritization and decision making. The users are the ‘customers’ of the owner of the Enotis tool. In the case of universities their customers are students, in the case of city councils it is local residents, in the case of NGOs it is the communities they serve. The tool enables the owner to understand the priorities of their customers and to help them to interact in real time to collectively select the most pressing issues for the largest number of people, equipping the owner to meet the needs of their customers better. The tool creates cohesion among its users and helps them and the owner to achieve their objectives. If that objective is public health – then the tool helps them to understand the public health issue affecting the largest number of people and provides avenues to address it.
“Hace la fuerza” (Makes the strength) is a community of women professionals from Latin America that provides mentoring opportunities for female undergraduate students in their transition to the workforce and to high school students in their transition to university.
The community will work through a website and video communication platform and will rely on the voluntary participation of outstanding female leaders who will offer their time and experience to new cohorts of women professionals.
Our next steps include creating the project’s website, yielding a strong network of women mentors in key subject areas and launching an operational work plan for 2021.
GuardED is a mobile app that helps people protect their privacy in a world wherein the majority of business, education, shopping, entertainment, healthcare, and social interactions are conducted in an insecure online environment. A situation that was aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the next three months, GuardED will publish animated cybersecurity videos online to educate and strengthen the brand, have a professional website developed and increase its credibility and the competence of the team.
Help Beyond is a platform that connects care and domestic service workers (nannies, cooks, cleaners, and people caring for the elderly) to formal job opportunities. On the supply side, the enterprise would offer workers training and career development, basic health coverage, and it would facilitate continuing education opportunities and access to micro-credit. The solution could be an end-to-end platform or an Application Programming Interface (API) offering a digital marketplace connecting employers and employees, while providing support with contracts, health benefits, insurance, and task-management.
Dear Scholars, Alumni, Supporters and Friends of WHT,
It is hard to look back at the smiling faces of our first group photos at the beginning of the academic year last September and wonder how we were in such a cocoon that we could not have imagined that the world could be turned upside down so swiftly, and so comprehensively. Many of this year’s cohort have said that they hope to be the one and only group to have to go through half a year in lockdown and online. I can say that our 2020 cohort have shown great resilience in what have been exceptionally difficult circumstances. Although no one would wish it on them, I think they have found their own ways of coping and it has been impressive to watch.
Scholars at the University Parks
Twenty-one of our scholars found themselves still in Oxford at the time of lockdown. Those who had managed to get home continued to join in for online working and our zoom events as best they could. They have captured their varied experiences in a series of blogs.
Key Conversations on Inequality, Sustainability, Accountability and Anger
We hoped that perhaps we would all get together for the Leadership Forum at the end of June – but it was not to be so we resorted to zoom sessions stretched over two days and a brief get together over strawberries and prosecco in the Oxford Parks -it did mean our scholars were able to meet André Hoffmann over a Q&A session and also hear from the BBC’s North America Editor, Jon Sopel who gave candid and often amusing insights from his vantage point in Washington DC.
“It’s not good enough to say ‘We do no harm’; we need to repair, we need to be active, we need to be positive contributors because the status quo needs to change. We will not have sustainable businesses if we do not reduce inequalities”
“There is a rising wave of populism that worries me; giving people information they can trust is essential and more important now than ever. There is a tendency to retreat into echo chambers that reinforce our beliefs. Our job is the same as it has always been: to speak truth to power and to hold people to account”
The Leadership Forum included a Moral Philosophy session, conducted by the WHT academic advisor Nik Kirby. The question, ‘What to do with anger’, sparked a very lively debate.
“The last Moral Philosophy session of the year was one of the most compelling discussions we have had throughout the Programme. We were made to reflect on the role of anger in politics, especially insightful in the context of the Black Lives Matter and the Rhodes Must Fall protests.”
— Kavya Chowdhry
A Growing Network of Alumni
The online forum also meant that alums from across the world joined this year’s cohort to give them tips and insight into the world as it feels after or rather coming down, to use the proper Oxford term. And we are excited to have Nadja join us as the first alum on the advisory board, to bring an ever closer relationship between what are now well over 200 alums from 74 Countries.
The Lockdown Leadership Forum provided an opportunity for our globally dispersed alumni to share key challenges in their sectors and tips for making the transition from Oxford.
“Becoming active in the WHT Alumni Network will be a way to give back to WHT and Oxford University and to reconnect with fellow alumni. Engaging will be easy and will provide ample opportunities to network over shared work and community interests. We want to amplify our values and leadership by working even closer together.“
— Christopher Mathew, South Africa, Master of Business Administration (MBA) Louis Dreyfus, Saïd, Weidenfeld and Hoffmann, Trinity
— Jourdan Hussein, Indonesia, Master of Public Policy (MPP) Louis Dreyfus, Nuffield
— Matthew de la Hey, South Africa, Master of Business Administration (MBA) Louis Dreyfus, New College
— Idris Bello, United States, MSc Global Health Science Arcadia, Kellogg
Creating Impact Through Enterprises
The Leadership Programme has evolved in response to the scholars’ needs. For the past three years the Enterprise Challenge has provided extra tools and knowledge to empower each cohort to think outside their academic disciplines. The teams presented eight initiatives that spanned continents, blending different sectors, demographics and business models. They had all benefited from support and training from WHT as well as crucial mentorship from business leaders.
We would like to thank this year’s mentors: Andrew Nott, Atherton Mutombwera, Eileen Modral, Greg FitzGerald, Irina Fedorenko, Justin Gayner, Matthew De La Hey, Rosie O’Malley, and Stephanie Gnissios. We are also grateful to Andrew Nott (IAPS), Amanda Feldman (Bethnal Green Ventures) Ben Barnett (TFG Brands London), Eileen Modral (OION), Jordan Schlipf (Rainmaking Venture Studio), Lauren Fletcher (Beta Earth), Nadja Skaljic (IP Group), and Precious Lunga (Baobab Circle), for spending what turned out to be a very hot afternoon hearing about the projects.
The Art Marketplace
A social hub that builds on unique collaborative partnerships and uses digital technologies to tell stories of the visual and crafts sector in Zimbabwe. The enterprise seeks to empower women and youth artists to contribute towards the growth of the sector, appreciation of arts and cultural diversity. Awarded the best social impact enterprise prize at the WHT 2020 Leadership Forum.
SOLIS
A digital coach in a mobile app that helps people to maximize the benefit of their existing light therapy devices. Solis is an intuitive app that integrates multimodal inputs to provide actionable steps on activities affecting your mood and mental health. Awarded the most scalable business prize at the WHT 2020 Leadership Forum.
GUARDED – Security Education App
Mobile application that empowers individuals with cyber security knowledge. An interactive assistant that helps its users to identify security weaknesses on their phones, computers and smart devices and assists its users with addressing these weaknesses, giving people some peace of mind in the digitally disrupted world. Awarded the most scalable business prize at the WHT 2020 Leadership Forum.
INSPĺRAME
Inclusive Financial Products for Women in Mexico. Marketing useful and relevant financial products with gender perspective and promoting financial literacy in Mexico. Awarded the best social impact enterprise prize at the WHT 2020 Leadership Forum.
iGREEN – Sustainable Marketplace
A platform connecting consumers to locally produced sustainable products, helping people to find sustainable products in a manner that is easy, convenient, and offers low-emission and packaging-free alternatives for delivery.
SHARE THE CARE
A platform that bridges the gap between a high demand for elderly care service and oversupply of trained nurses in the context of Nepal. Providing affordable and trustworthy care for the elderly while simultaneously creating jobs is the mission of this project.
130 MILLION GIRLS
An interactive digital world map with information on 130 million girls across the world who are out of school. This project’s mission is to accelerate access to education for these girls across the world. The team has been awarded as the best social impact initiative of the WHT 2020 Leadership Forum.
CITIZEN HILMALAYA
A news website that will focus on news from the Indian Himalayan Region. It’s a citizen journalism initiative focused on local news pertaining to issues that are similar across the Indian Himalayas.
“The knowledge and skills learned during the Challenge could help us make a real impact in the world by putting our ideas to practice. I feel more confident about starting my own initiatives in the future”
Over the course of the Forum, many scholars shared their appreciation for the opportunity to study at Oxford, the Leadership Programme, and above all, the time spent together and the ways they were able to inspire each other.
Alumni Updates
Many alums could not join the Leadership forum but have sent updates of their lives and careers. We have selected two of many to include here. More will be included in the annual report.
Wildlife Conservation in Namibia
“Since graduating from Oxford I have had lots of exciting opportunities and events. Firstly, I returned to Colombia for a brief but productive time working with the implementation of partnership between an ecotourism company and conservation NGOs, afterwards I moved to Namibia in May 2018 to start working for the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) as an ecologist and conservation scientist.
I learned a lot during my first few months there; I worked with wildlife surveys as well as mitigation methods for human-wildlife conflict with communities. After six months I was promoted to be the Ecology coordinator. This entails curating all of the data, managing our interns and volunteers, coordinating all the ecological monitoring throughout CCF’s property. Personally I recently got engaged with Eli Walker, who also studied the same MSc at Oxford. We are very excited about our next stage in life!”
“I am working with my friend, hoping to set up a coffee farm in central Vietnam, focusing on proper, standardised coffee variety selection, cultivation, and processing. Vietnam is the second biggest coffee exporter in the world – and yet the quality remains subpar. Every year farmers sell their farms, they get into an endless cycle of debt with growing fertiliser cost and lowering price. If you ask any scholar from East Africa, they should know that Kenyan or Ethiopian coffee are always the most sought after. In Central America, Brazil, Colombia, and even Peru, there is a proper grading system and these countries produce coffee that could be graded as ‘Specialty’ (instead of ‘Commodity’ coffee). Thailand, Indonesia, even Laos and Myanmar – being new to the coffee game – have produced very high quality coffee.
And yet my country remains a blackhole on the specialty coffee map. We want to change that. We have just opened a cafe’ in Ho Chi Minh City. I am monitoring my staff and working from afar, but so far everything has been going fairly well.”
— Thai Dang, Vietnam, MSc Politics: Comparative Government Oxford-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann, St Antony's
New College Partnerships
We have made important strides forward in ways that we hope will not only benefit our scholars but also the University and knit the two to create an ever-closer partnership. Our next cohort will be in one of seven colleges and each of these has contributed towards our Leadership programme. Thanks to Helen Mountfield, seven students will be at Mansfield and these will be named after the distinguished former Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan. St Edmunds Hall will be taking five students thanks to the Julius Baer Foundation, Keble and Lincoln are also partnering thanks to the Sloane Robinson Foundation. The other colleges joining in this partnership are Trinity, Hertford and Worcester and we are extremely grateful to everyone involved in making this happen. One additional benefit at this time is that the students will have ready formed small groups on which we can base elements of our Leadership programme while maintaining the social distancing measures that will be in place during the next academic year.
“This program has truly changed my life. I have been a leader before, but I could not see it. People from the WHT community have helped me believe in what I could become and start to develop my plans on how to get there.”
— Aileen Brown Cuevas, Mexico, Master of Business Administration (MBA) Barnett, Oxford-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann, Lady Margaret Hall
At WHT we support social entrepreneurship and encourage our scholars to create businesses that address social and environmental issues. Our recent alumnus Dr. Mohsin Ali Mustafa, inspired by our Enterprise Challenge,has just launched his new company in Pakistan. It addresses the topical issue of access to medical care and helps bringing the community together, especially in times such as the current pandemic.
Mohsin’s company, DocLink, connects patients with their OWN doctors through a messaging platform. The platform is built to be easy to use and to empower both patients and doctors. Doctors can now take care of their patients minor queries and get remunerated for the additional advice while patients can seek responses to medical concerns that arise outside doctor’s office hours or are of such a nature that they do not warrant a visit to a clinic. We believe that it has a huge potential to digitise the sector and relax the pressure on the Pakistani healthcare system.
In his own words Mohsin credits his experience as a WHT scholar as a source of inspiration and mentorship that led to DocLink.
DocLink was conceived and developed during the course of my year at Oxford. We benefited immensely from the time spent working on it during the Weidenfeld Hoffmann Trust Enterprise Challenge. We were ably supported by our teachers, advisers and fellow students. The mentorship provided by our business advisors was priceless.
My team members during this stage included Alfredo, Ana Lucia, Grace, Pashtoon & Priya. Since graduating from Said Business School in July 2019, I’ve continued to work on DocLink. Over the last few months, we prototyped the app, piloted it in a clinic and have now launched it commercially. Later this year, we will raise a seed round for our venture.
— Mohsin Mustafa
We are very proud of Mohsin for launching this product and we wish him luck in helping to address the biggest health crisis in his country. You can find out more about this technology here (www.doclink.health) and share it with your friends in Pakistan.
As part of the WHT newsletters we have decided to start running profiles on our alumni family from around the world. The purpose of this is to introduce our new scholars to some of the alumni and the interesting things they are involved in as well as to encourage alumni to remain interested and involved in the WHT community.For this newsletter we focussed on some of our African alumni and the interesting paths they have travelled since graduating from Oxford. We hope you enjoy reading their profiles and their answers to some of the questions we asked them.
Botswana, MSc International Health & Tropical Medicine, 2017, Keble
Upon leaving Oxford in September 2017, I chose to go back to clinical medicine and serve in a rural hospital in North West Province, South Africa. I worked mainly in HIV/AIDS care seeing a mostly young and either infected or affected population with limited access to very basic health resources. One of the greatest accomplishments was setting up an adolescent support group in our HIV clinic which helped in improving adherence to treatment. I continued to upskill myself and completed a post graduate diploma in HIV management from the College of Medicine South Africa in April 2018.After a year in rural health, I married my best friend and moved to Pretoria where I sought clinical research opportunities in HIV to make the most of the skills learnt at Oxford. Currently I work in Mamelodi township as a Clinical research physician for a global research site organisation. We are participating in HIV vaccine trials as well as other therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, osteoarthritis and diabetes. We see over 300 research trial participants across 10 different clinical trials. This has been a great opportunity for me to not only continue working in HIV/AIDS of which I am passionate about but work in an environment that allows me to continually learn while lending a hand in finding solutions for current medical conditions and diseases.
How has the scholarship and leadership programme benefited/impacted your career to date and what does the programme as a whole mean to you?
What has really impacted my career is the CV writing workshop we had at Cumberland Lodge and the networking and communication skills that I developed. I learnt how to use every work or career function as a tool to position myself for my next career move, and really make professional relationships that live past the cocktails and polite chatter of the event. The CV workshop taught me tools I can use to make it easier to secure that interview spot and not have a CV that works against you and your next job.WHT programme has meant a better me, it gave me the real-life skills that I did not know I needed, something not even an Oxford classroom could have taught me. It is thanks to the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust that a young Botswana girl like me can make it to the top university in the world and learn skills she can use to help make a small difference in making health advances in Africa.
What advice would you give to WHT scholars on making the most of their time at Oxford?
My advice to new scholars is to please immerse yourself in Oxford culture without losing yourself. Be fully present in Oxford and avail yourself for new and different experiences while being away from home. Create the memories that you will carry along with the degree in your hand long after leaving Oxford.What most excites you about Africa at the moment?I love Africa, it has great innovative potential because the challenges force you to come up with quite creative solutions and our generation needs to hone this advantage and create new opportunities to take Africa to new technological, industrial, and health heights. It is thanks to foundations such as the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust that a young Botswana girl like me can make it to the top university in the world and learn skills she can use to help make a small difference in making health advances in Africa.
South Africa, Master of Business Administration (MBA), 2017, Trinity
After completing my second masters, I returned home to join a South African hospital group as the Clinical Lead for their digitisation project. We’re in the process of creating the first fully digitised hospital in Africa. After months of hard work, 100-hour weeks and sleep-deprived days and nights, we began our pilot in September in our first hospital in Johannesburg. It’s going brilliantly, and we can already proudly say that we have changed healthcare in South Africa forever.On the personal side, my wife and I have settled down into a beautiful home that we can call our own. We’ve grown our family, by adding a Great Dane puppy (not all that small though), and are glad to say we have another family member on the way – our first child is expected in December!
How has the scholarship and leadership programme benefited/impacted your career to date and what does the programme as a whole mean to you?
The scholarship has helped to open doors in various ways. First, the prestige of the programme has helped initiate conversations and “get a foot in the door” as it were. Secondly, the skills taught and the exposure of the leadership programme, helped to round off and diversify the learnings of my MBA, allowing me to apply it across a broader spectrum of environments. However, lastly and most importantly, it has helped me inspire countless others to pursue a dream of further education at Oxford. At least once every two months, someone new contacts me to discuss pursuing a dream at Oxford, one of which I helped with getting into the MBA programme this semester, and hopefully one or two more joining the ranks next year.
What do you miss most about Oxford?
Everything! The beautiful, memory-filled buildings, the amazing friends, the college dinners, the long summer days that went into the night, the libraries of your childhood dreams, and so much more.
What most excites you about Africa at the moment?
The excitement about Africa is what excites me. There is this feeling of hope and optimism, and everybody is looking on with wide-eyes to see what the future holds. I’m just glad I can be a part of it!
Tanzania, MSc Global Health Science, 2014, Green Templeton
After completing my degree in Global Health Science at Oxford I worked in the humanitarian field focusing on the health sector. I initially worked in Liberia, West Africa during the 2014 Ebola outbreak and thereafter in Turkey on the Syrian conflict. I then went into Paediatric residency training and recently completed my training and I am now a specialist Paediatrician in Tanzania.The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust scholarship and leadership programme has made an immeasurable impact on my career to date. I gained a masters that propelled me into the Global Health field and opened the door to numerous opportunities.The experience deepened my networks in academia, professionally and among fellow scholars enabling connections even beyond my time at Oxford. Furthermore, the opportunities offered to scholars particularly career talks, one-on-one conversations with recruiters and most importantly the moral and leadership seminar prepared me for the job market, future roles and leadership positions. The WHT programme means a great deal to me, not only did it support my studies and other scholars at Oxford but also invests in us throughout the duration of the scholarship and after, enabling us to make an impact in our communities and globally.
What is your fondest memory of your time at Oxford?
Really hard to pin down the fondest memory, one of the tops would be cycling down to The Isis and rowing at dawn, a picturesque start to the day.
What do you miss most about Oxford?
I miss the diverse group of talented individuals that I encountered daily; from classmates to fellow scholars to college mates you’d meet in the common room.
Uganda, Master of Public Policy (MPP), 2016, Mansfield
After graduating with a Master of Public Policy, I joined the Global Innovation Fund (GIF), a $200 million non-profit fund that invests in innovations helping people living on less than $5 a day in low- and middle-income countries. At GIF I am a Senior Director within the investment team in London where I bring analytics perspectives on themes of vital relevance to Africa including rural livelihoods, urban poverty, and health. I help GIF make evidence-informed investments by challenging the underpinning development theories and measuring the social impact of our portfolio.The WHT programme equipped me with a vital leadership toolkit. The pre-eminent intellectual and leadership programme offered me lifelong leanings that help me continuously grow professionally. Furthermore, the opportunities for mentorship as well as interactions with past and present scholars form an essential support network of global leaders that I am proud to be a part of.
What advice would you give to WHT scholars on making the most of their time at Oxford?
You are at Oxford because you are brilliant, so my advice is that you spend the appropriate time focused on academic work but also invest in discovering people, culture and values.
What is your fondest memory of your time at Oxford?
The fondest memory of my time at Oxford was undoubtedly the birth of my daughter Joelle.
What most excites you about Africa at the moment?
The most exciting thing about Africa is the vibrancy of its youth and renewed ambition to chart its own course!
Kenya, MSc Water Science, Policy & Management, 2015, Wolfson
After graduating from Oxford, I joined EED Advisory Ltd as a WASH Specialist and I now hold the position of Senior Manager. EED is a Pan-African consulting company offering technical, analytical and advisory services in water, energy and climate change based in Nairobi, Kenya. In this capacity, I’ve had the opportunity to lead and manage multiple projects that have allowed me to travel extensively around Kenya and within the region (including to Somalia).Besides work, I enjoy the outdoors and hiking provides the perfect way to appreciate Kenya’s diverse terrain. I have hiked most of the Aberdare Range hiking trails, summited Lenana Peak on Mt Kenya (2017) and summited Uhuru Peak on Mt. Kilimanjaro (2018).
How has the scholarship and leadership programme benefited/impacted your career to date and what does the programme as a whole mean to you?
Pursuing my studies at Oxford would most likely have been impossible without this scholarship and as such, it helped set a foundation for my career within the water sector. The Moral Philosophy seminars that are part of the WHT programme introduced me to the world of Classics, something I enjoy to this day and that influences my analysis of today’s moral dilemmas. The WHT programme was thus an opportunity for both career and personal growth.
What do you miss most about Oxford?
All the extremely informative sessions that happen across the city, on a variety of topics / issues. Also, the uniqueness of formal dinners, punting and Bops.
What advice would you give to WHT scholars on making the most of their time at Oxford?
There is a lot that goes on at the University beyond course requirements. Take time to experience the diversity of Oxford – debates, dance lessons, food, college activities, etc. Also, a year goes by fast!
What most excites you about Africa at the moment?
The youth of Africa. This is a group that has embraced technology, is very innovative and has an eagerness to change Africa’s narrative for the better.
Since graduating from Oxford, I have continued to work on the Weeds to Pesticide project which spun out of my participation in the WHT Enterprise Challenge. I was selected to present this work in the Sustainable Goals Tent at the 2019 World Economic Forum, as part of a WHT delegation, thanks to the generous support of Mr Andre Hoffmann. I have since obtained endorsement for the project from the University of Oxford.I have also joined one of the WHT scholarships’ funding partners, the Louis Dreyfus Foundation (LDF). My work with LDF entails baseline, diagnostic studies on rural smallholder farmers in Zambia and South Africa, and the design of appropriate and effective livelihood projects for these farmers, with women and youth empowerment being the principal focus of the projects.
How has the scholarship and leadership programme benefited/impacted your career to date and what does the programme as a whole mean to you?
The scholarship afforded me chance to study a course that supplemented my knowledge and skill in biodiversity science with that of the social facets of this field, which I needed in order to develop into a well-rounded harmoniser of humans and nature. This made me attractive to organisations such as WHT’s funding partner, the Louis Dreyfus Foundation (with whom I currently work) who work at this interface i.e. agro-ecology. Working with LDF also became a chance to give back to the organisation.The WHT Enterprise Challenge challenged me to think outside the box, and this allowed me to develop the novel Weeds to Pesticide Project, which turns a pernicious problem into a poverty alleviation and nature conservation tool. To me, the WHT programme is, in short, a tried and tested incubator for maverick change agents.
What is your fondest memory of your time at Oxford?
My fondest memory is the WHT Practical Skills Seminar at Cumberland Lodge, which was an opportunity to hone our communication skills coated in what felt like a family vacation of good times.
What advice would you give to WHT scholars on making the most of their time at Oxford?
The value of the Oxford opportunity lies more in the relationships and networks that you stand to build, than in anything else. Hence, attend events and engage, engage and engage!
What most excites you about Africa at the moment?
Africa possesses enormous potential, given its rich natural resources and abundance of manpower, and the many opportunities that exist to adapt innovations that have been implemented in high income countries to Africa.
George Weidenfeld surrounded by Scholars and supporters in 2013
Lord Weidenfeld was born in Vienna on September 13th 1919 and in the academic year 2019-20 we will be celebrating his original vision for our unique global scholarships.
My vision was to have a facility at one of the great universities of the world, to train people for whom not enough has been done to prepare them for positions of leadership
Watch this video which captures some of our alumni and supporters’ memories of him:
WHT’s chairman André Hoffmann generously invited the WHT to join him in his Sustainability tent at the World Economic Forum 2019, in Davos. A group of our scholars and alumni travelled to Switzerland for the event where they presented the following panel:
Young Voices of Hope: perspectives from the latest wave of emerging leaders
The following alumni made brief presentations about their development work in the fields of Innovation, Business and Sustainability. Click their names to watch their full presentation on YouTube:
Professor PAMELA MATSON, Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellow in Sustainability Studies 2019, University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (UCCRI)
Watch her Public Lecture on ‘The Practical Pursuit of Sustainability’
Professor Matson is an interdisciplinary sustainability scientist, academic leader and organizational strategist. Her research addresses a range of environment and sustainability issues, including agricultural systems and vulnerability and resilience of people and places to climate change.
In her lecture Professor Matson outlined how sustainability is a term widely used by many different groups – from corporations to the international development community, academic institutions and non-profits – sometimes with different meanings and different goals. Drawing common threads among the different uses, she illustrated how systems thinking and a capital assets framework could be used to increase the likelihood of reaching sustainability goals.
