theceomagazine.com | 149MINUTES WITH...
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK,
CEO, INVESTING FOR CHARITYWhat was the initial impetus behind
Investing for Charity?
It started when I was at university and
running a financial education foundation
called Units. We were educating young
people about investing and finance, and
then we decided to run a charitable fund
to do something different.Who gave you guidance along the way?
Chris Cuffe, former CEO of Colonial First
State super fund suggested some major
changes to our business model and that we
make it more of a perpetual fund. He also
introduced us to Geoff Wilson and David
Paradice, who run big funds. We pitched it as
something that runs at zero cost and generates
a perpetual stream of donations to charity.
They put in A$15,000 each to get us started.What is your biggest challenge?
Getting the word out. Letting people know
that we’re doing really good research into
different charities and causes. When we
presented our latest research, new donors
were saying: ‘Why the hell haven’t we heard
about this before? Other charities don’t tell us
anything about the impact they are having.’What is your best productivity tip?
Start small and stay small until you’re really
getting it right. One lesson I’ve learned
running Investing for Charity is that when we
tried to do too much, we ended up spending
all our time managing the processes we’d
created for ourselves.The US News and World Report
found that the best country to
invest in is the Philippines: its
GDP is worth US$304.9 billion
and it’s growing by 6.9%.PUT YOUR
MONEY HERE
As the tech giants increasingly
invest in healthcare, tools like
artificial intelligence and machine
learning are being used to address
eye diseases. Microsoft, Google
and other companies are forming
partnerships with medical
organisations in an effort to create
programs that can recognise
certain conditions like macular
degeneration or diabetic
retinopathy. Indeed, Google has
already reported success in its
partnership with UK’s Moorfields
Eye Hospital NHS Foundation,
having created an algorithm that
can detect eye disease more
efficiently than humans. This
circumvents several problems
researchers have had previously,
such as high R&D cost, limited
technology and a lack of datasets.Compiled by Oliver FeatherstonNews | INVEST