I set up The Green Foundation in January this year. The company recycles electronics goods such as mobile phones, laptops, game consuls, iPods and digital cameras. We buy the items, which usually have a residual value, then repair them before selling them on. People who pass on the goods have the opportunity of taking the money or donating it to a charity of their choice. I see this as a clever, clean and environmentally friendly way of helping people.
But The Green Foundation is also a business and I have a responsibility to my partners and shareholders. While we help fund charities, we make about 25 per cent on the items we trade and out of that we pay operating and agency costs. I believe there's nothing wrong with a recycling company making a profit. We haven't yet, but hope to by the end of the year. I've had quite a long and varied career. My background is in advertising and marketing, but entrepreneur is probably a better tag.
When I was 16, I set up a school disco and got everyone to pay to go. I earned £200 (Dh1,170). I still haven't opened my dream disco yet, but maybe one day. I left school later that year and started working with my uncle, who was a well-known photographer in London. By the age of 20, I realised that although I was creative I wasn't good enough to be a commercial photographer. So I took a job in Dubai with an advertising firm called Ogilvy & Mather. I was 21 and thought I would spend a couple of years out here before moving on. Eighteen years later, I am still in Dubai.
I left Ogilvy & Mather at the age of 25 and started my own advertising agency - Face2Face . I had Dh30,000 and invested it all in the company. It was a big risk, but within five years the company was turning over US$10 million (Dh36.7m) a year. I sold the business to my partner in 2002 and started a direct marketing company for three years. In 2005, I sold that and then left with my family to spend three years renovating an old mill in Tuscany.
I returned to the UK in 2008 and moved back to Dubai in September last year. It may sound a little woolly but after those wonderful years in Tuscany I wanted to start a company where I made a difference. I was financially stable and, although I have a young family, I felt that I had secured enough to take the risk. Since the collapse of the financial world, charities have suffered because people no longer have the disposable income they once did.
I think at the end of the day people want to contribute to making things better for the less fortunate, but at the same time they need to look after themselves and their families. The Green Foundation offers a clever way they can do both by donating the old telephone or game box they have at the back of the cupboard. Charities show how much can be done with a relatively small amount of money. I got an e-mail from a shareholder whose company sent in 60 phones, for which we made a Dh700 donation. He complained that Dh700 didn't seem much for 60 phones. I sent an e-mail back pointing out that the Dh700 had been enough to rebuild a child's face and cleft palate. People don't realise that their old phone could pay to protect a Bengal tiger for a month, feed a child for three months or vaccinate 70 people against malaria.
I have three kids, aged 12, eight and seven, and I am trying to teach them to stop and think about what they really want. Their pocket money is paid through a credit system. If the kids do well at school or are kind, considerate or good they get a credit. Each credit is marked on a chart on the fridge and is worth Dh3. It has had fantastic results. My 12 year old is desperate to get credit for her phone, and the two younger kids, who are always after money for the movies or popcorn, know it's important to behave to receive pocket money.
When it comes to investing, I bought my first house in the UK when I was 27 and starting to earn money through Face2face. Then I bought another four houses quite quickly, as the business took off. I invested in UK real estate in areas that hadn't been developed. Fortunately, it paid off. I suspect I've probably made as much from property as from business. The original four houses have been sold and I now have properties in Budapest, Bulgaria, France, Italy and the UK. They are all rented out. I haven't bought in Dubai. I still feel the prices are too inflated.
I respect money and I understand why people want it. I understand my responsibilities to my shareholders and investors. But money is not the be all and end all. Of the three life pillars - health, wealth and happiness - wealth lags way behind. * As told to Jane Williams For more information, visit www.thegreenfoundation.me