Charity Sucks

Description

In the wake of recent scandals concerning charities such as Kids Company and BeatBullying, as well as the wave of suspicion they have generated about the third sector as a whole, celebrated restaurateur Iqbal Wahhab offers a scathing critique of the cosiness between government and charity, and proposes that the solution lies in business.Indeed, he believes we are entering a post-philanthropy age, where social entrepreneurs are better placed to sustainably solve our problems than the outdated and ineffective donations model. With social mobility on the wane and inequalities widening, he argues, the convention of paying taxes to provide a welfare state that fixes the problems of the poor and infirm is now considered a myth.The problem is that charities aren't evolving in the way businesses have to. They expand by the amount of hope and faith by which they can convince largely uninformed, if well-meaning, donors and philanthropists to finance them. Businesses expand through success, and success wins over hope.Put simply, Wahhab argues, charity sucks because business does it better.

Author description

Iqbal Wahhab OBE has lived in Britain for almost his whole life and, in a career spanning thirty years, has built a reputation for delivering world-class excellence through his highly successful restaurant businesses, Roast and the Cinnamon Club.He was voted one of the Top 10 Restaurateurs in Britain in an Independent on Sunday survey and listed in the Caterer Power 100, GQ 100 Most Connected and the Sunday Times Maserati Top 100 business start-up mentors. He has also received an honorary doctorate in business administration from the University of East London and an honorary doctorate in science from the University of West London.