Last week, I had the privilege of visiting GMSP Foundation’s latest project: a new food kitchen in Watford – a cutting-edge facility providing 9,000 wholesome meals for the vulnerable in north London, the first of its kind in the UK. I am a keen observer and writer of philanthropic efforts in our community, and the GMSP Akshaya Patra kitchen is a leading example not only of philanthropy at its best but also of a true partnership between a funder and a grantee This was evident in the interactions between the two organisations on my visit with each explaining how they could not have achieved the end result without the other.
Over lunch, the founders of GMSP, Ramesh and Pratibha Sachdev, alongside their daughter who is CEO, Sonal Sachdev Patel, explained their admirable journey and ambitions for the Foundation. Bhawani Singh Shekhawat, CEO of Akshaya Patra UK, shared his incredible knowledge of the model in India and its future in the UK. They introduced the kitchen to other leaders in the community: Lord Dolar and Lady Sandhya Popat, Dean Russell (MP for Watford), Bob Blackman (MP for Harrow East) and Harrow Councillor Ameet Jogia.
The kitchen is based on Akshaya Patra’s model in India, a charity which serves 1.8 million meals to children every day across the country. In the UK, almost 20% of children under the age of 15 are unsure if they will have a proper meal on a given day. Free school meals are needed all year-round to ensure no child goes hungry. Akshaya Patra’s model is therefore exactly what we need in the UK, an extremely efficient and scalable structure able to serve highly nutritious meals. A Michelin star chef is an ambassador of this very slick operation.
I was taken aback by the number of state-of-the-art machines with the capability to cook thousands of bespoke meals within 30 minutes or so. The latest technology was ubiquitous, from freezers to cleaning devices. Indeed, lunch was delicious with an array of piping hot vegetarian meals. Most importantly, the food is highly nutritious – every meal is lab-tested to create the perfect balance of micro and macro-nutrients to ensure children are receiving optimal nutrition. This is so vital as a number of studies show the strong link between the quality of a child’s food intake and their ability to learn in the classroom. It was quite clear that tasty food need not be unhealthy, quite the opposite in this case! Nutrition is at the heart of what the GMSP-Akshaya Patra partnership stands for.
The kitchen is now starting to serve their first meals to children and the vulnerable in Watford, Harrow and the surrounding areas. One of the topics discussed among the esteemed politicians and philanthropists present was how to optimise the uptake of the meals, particularly to ensure as many children on free school meals as possible can be fed, as well as those who are food insecure The local politicians are keen to meet this aim. In the meantime, I strongly recommend anyone in this space (especially schools) to explore the GMSP-Akshaya Patra kitchen.
The GMSP founders, Ramesh and Pratibha Sachdev’s style of philanthropy brings more than just funding, and this is a great example of the philanthropists bringing their skills, network and commercial know how to enhance social gain. The values of dignity, kindness and respect that are central to their family, are also the bedrock of the Foundation. They have ambitions to open more kitchens to feed children and the vulnerable around the country and are looking at sites in North London and Leicester. This has the potential to upend the existing way of doing things by replacing it with a high-tech, cost-effective and nutritious model. This will be of great benefit to our country.
(Rohan Radia has recently graduated from the University of Oxford and beginning a career in business with a leading management consulting firm. His interests lie strongly in philanthropy and related topics).
