DIPLOMATIC SUPPLIES & GIVING BACK

International Diplomatic Supplies (IDS) was formed back in 1997 in London, initially to supply British diplomats and other diplomats with ‘a taste of home’ wherever they were working worldwide. The following year, founder Patrick Doyle realised that “if we can deliver to Nigeria and Sudan, we can deliver to London,” and in October 1998 IDS launched its service to the London diplomatic corps, with an event at The Cavalry and Guards Club on Piccadilly. “Soon after,” he recalls, “I was approached by British charity, Kids for Kids, who support children in Darfur, to sponsor a fundraiser they were holding.” Happy to oblige, Patrick acted as auctioneer at the event, and in due course was invited to become a trustee of the charity. “My first act was to suggest The Ambassadors’ Ball, now hosted each year at Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill and sponsored by IDS. This has become the charity’s largest annual fundraiser.” Over the years, this event has hosted hundreds of ambassadors and senior diplomats and became a firm fixture on the diplomatic calendar.

As the company grew, so did Patrick’s ethos of giving back. By 2019, IDS Dubai had outgrown its London sibling and as CEO it became clear that Patrick could contribute best to the company by being based there. “Shortly after moving to Dubai, my wife, Erika and I attended The Sparkle Foundation’s gala. Impressed by the event, we invited the charity’s founder to our house to understand more about its work supporting children in Malawi. When Sparkle sought to bring together a UAE Board of Directors, I was invited to become Vice Chair.”

The Sparkle Foundation focuses on four established pillars: education, nutrition, healthcare and community. “Delivered in a sustainable way, these pillars really appealed to me,” Patrick notes. “This method should allow for the charity’s recipients (children and adults) to become empowered to control their own destiny, to reach a point where foreign charity support is no longer necessary.”

In December 2024, the UAE Board of Directors, including Patrick, joined The Sparkle Foundation’s Malawi Board members at a meeting in Zomba. “We flew to Malawi for eight days. I have travelled to Africa many times representing IDS, and before that when I worked for The Ashanti Goldfields in Ghana in the 1980’s. But this time I was nervous. I wanted to make a difference, but I didn’t know what that would look like.”

During their visit to The Sparkle Foundation, the board members were soon repeating the phrase: “not a handout, but a hand up,” which best describes the ethos of the charity. Patrick explains: “The Sparkle Foundation consists of four sites, each one an early year’s school, providing invaluable education to the children of the poorest families in the community. This is a great opportunity, as there are two teachers to 25 children, whereas at the state-run schools there is one teacher to 80 children. Each child receives a high protein, nutritious breakfast on arrival and a healthy lunch, and there is a medical centre that provides for the children and the entire community. These basics – education, nutrition and healthcare – get the children off to a great start. Sparkle has also bought a farm, so the charity can grow its own vegetables, both to feed the children and to sell for profit to provide funds to run the organisation in due course. Although this will take some time, self-sufficiency is the goal.”

Initially, Patrick and the team spent time with the children to get to know them. “I got to feed one four-year-old boy called Joshua. After seeing his sibling die in a car accident, Joshua has been nonverbal ever since, and his mother is still in hospital. Such a beautiful and affectionate child.”

The other board members from Dubai include a partner at Ernst & Young, a former charman of a division of Pfizer and the Head of HR for one of the leading UAE tech companies. Together they used their skills to deep dive into the personnel and operating systems at The Sparkle Foundation’s head office. Patrick recalls: “Our time there was intense; we were onsite for over 12 hours each day. We then reviewed the day over dinner, making recommendations for the future planning of the organisation. The week closed with a morale boosting football tournament, which included up to 50 teams across different age groups, both for boys and girls.”

A real biproduct of choosing IDS, is that we will turn your spend into life changing opportunities for children, be that in Malawi, or Ethiopia or Haiti, so every customer is directly changing a child’s life when they order with us.

Through IDS, Patrick has accumulated an unparalleled contact book, which he’s been able to use a lever to input meaningful change. “I have been able to reach out the both the current and former Malawi High Commissioners to the UK regarding The Sparkle Foundation. My work with Life Skills Haiti emerged from my relationship with its founder, Jean Pillard, former Haiti Ambassador to London.”

Although IDS has a history of working with charitable organisations and continues to do so with charities including Kids for Kids, the Gentle Hands Orphanage in the Philippines, Shamida Orphanage in Ethiopia and Life Skills Haiti where IDS pay for the training of nurses, this was the first time that Patrick had spent any length of time at one of the organisations. “In the charity sector, there are often questions asked about how much of the money raised reaches the people in need. But my trip to Malawi allowed me to spend time with the children who are learning to read, write and do maths, see them eating possibly their only meals of the week, and having access to healthcare, like malaria tablets, for example. I could see the money raised is certainly making an impact and having positive change. The teachers give everything they have to the children, including boundless energy and love.”

Patrick highlights how each transaction with IDS actively supports a worthy cause and contributes to positive change. “I want IDS to be competitive, and to provide the best service and the best range of products. I want every diplomat to choose us for those reasons. After all, we have grown from a start up in my spare bedroom to the biggest diplomatic supply company in the world. However, a real biproduct of choosing IDS, is that we will turn your spend into life changing opportunities for children, be that in Malawi, or Ethiopia or Haiti, so every customer is directly changing a child’s life when they order with us.”

What are the future plans for The Sparkle Foundation and IDS’s ongoing support of it? “We have focused our support on feeding the children. So, IDS will continue to fund three meals a day, 365 days a year for the children at The Sparkle Foundation, at least until the farm can provide enough food to do that and then we will help in some other way.”