Pratham UK raises over £560,000 at their annual Gala
Pratham UK’s annual Gala returned this year in the magnificent surroundings of Raffles London at The OWO, Whitehall earlier this month.
Our Gala is not only a fantastic way to celebrate the growth of our programmes, but also a powerful way to raise funds for transforming children’s education in India.
We’re thrilled to share that through the support and generosity of our Pratham UK family we raised over £560,000 on the night!
Here we take a look at some of the evening’s highlights and some of the key people that made the Gala so special.
Host with the most – Ahir Shah
Acclaimed comedian Ahir Shah kindly hosted the Gala and entertained guests with his sharp and intellectual comedy style.
Ahir recently won the Edinburgh Comedy Award at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has been called one of his generation’s “most eloquent comic voices”.
As an undeniably incredible performer we were delighted to welcome Ahir to his very first Pratham UK Gala!
Award-winning entrepreneur and leader, Sunaina Haldea talks the secrets to success
We were thrilled to have Sunaina Haldea as our special guest speaker for this year’s Gala.
As Global Head of the Private Capital Advisory Group at Raymond James, Sunaina Sinha Haldea is a leading figure in the world of finance, an extremely successful entrepreneur since she founded Cebile Capital (acquired by Raymond James) and served as early investor and Chairman of the Board of companies like Mindful Chef (acquired by Nestle), Barrecore (acquired by United Fitness).
She serves on public, private and university Boards. She is an amazing example of a woman paving the way in a heavily male-dominated field. Named one of the ‘50 Most Influential People in Private Equity’ by Dow Jones last year, we are thrilled to hear Sunaina speak about her journey, including the role education has played in her life.
Sunaina spoke candidly about how education has been a cornerstone in her life which is why she connects so deeply with Pratham and is a proud advocate for our charity.
She also gave top advice on various techniques that have been a key to her success from meditation and breath work to visualisation and cognitive load reduction.
Entertainment with Soumik Datta, Preetha Narayanan & Gurdain Singh Rayatt
Soumik Datta with Preetha Narayanan & Gurdain Singh Rayatt provided a wonderful musical backdrop for guests after dinner had been served.
Fusing his musical performance together with his skilled technique on the Sarod and both emotional and artful composition, Soumik has been described as a “master musician” by the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Soumik is not only an incredible musician but is passionate about philanthropy and harnessing the power of arts for social change.
Our guests thoroughly enjoyed his beautiful set alongside his talented collaborators.
A very special Q+A with Sarojani R.
One of the most special parts of the evening was when long-time Pratham UK supporters, Charu and Adarsh Sarma facilitated a heartfelt and insightful conversation with Sarojani R who was excited to share her inspiring story with guests on the night.
Sarojani was unable to study past grade 9 due to illness in her family resulting in her becoming the sole wage-earner. However, through online classes with Pratham during lockdown, Sarojani became interested in mechanics and found she had quite the talent for it too!
She managed to get a position at a local garage close to home which allowed her to hone her skills as well as take care of her family.
It was during this time Pratham recognised her natural abilities and strong work ethic, employing Sarojani as Assistant Trainer at Pratham’s Raipur Automotive Centre. The position has enabled Sarojani to support her entire family as well as pursue her dream career. She now aims to open her own automotive repair business which will give other women the opportunity to pursue careers in mechanics just like Pratham did for Sarojani.
She is a remarkable young woman and truly brought Pratham’s work to life on the evening for guests with so many commenting how emotional and inspired they felt as a result of hearing Sarojani’s story.
Live Auction
We were back this year with some brilliant live auction lots, from luxurious vacations in Sri Lanka and signed sports memorabilia from cricket legend and Pratham UK guest, Sourav Ganguly to art and photography pieces from some fantastic artists.
We had generous donations from JKS Restaurants, Trishna, DreamSetGo, Resplendent Ceylon by Dilmah Tea and Brightsun, Bonny Hazuria, Arjun Paliwal and Artnam by Arti Bhandari.
We will also organised a silent auction which included lots from Bicester Village, Minar Jewellers, Owl & The Pussycat Hotel, RYS Hair & Beauty, Barry’s Gym and East India Company
A big thank you goes to our generous donors for all the amazing lots!
Thank you!
As well as a huge thank you to every single guest who attended this year’s Gala, there are many people who also played a big role in making our Gala a fantastic evening for all – here are a few special mentions.
We’d like to thank our dedicated Board led by Sakate Khaitan, the wonderful Gala Committee led by Charu Sarma and our incredible colleagues in India and the USA, led by Dr. Rukmini Banerji and Manisha Bharti.
We’d also like to thank our wonderful team of volunteers who were instrumental in the smooth running of the event on the night.
A big thank you goes to our talented guest stars for helping to make the night so special: Ahir Shah, Sunaina Sinha Haldea and Edward Rising as well as our wonderful musicians, Soumik Datta, Preetha Narayanan and Gurdain Singh Rayatt.
A very special thank you goes to Sarojani R., who was really excited to share her inspiring journey with us and kindly stayed up late in India to take part in the special Q+A on the night.
A big thank you also goes to long-time Pratham UK supporters, Charu and Adarsh Sarma for facilitating a heartfelt and insightful conversation with Sarojani to help her share her story with our Gala guests.
Lastly, we’d like to thank all our amazing guests once again who supported this year’s Gala – with your continued support we can ensure every child is in school, learning well.
You can see all the amazing photos from the night here.
Further information
If you have any further questions about future events, sponsorship and funding opportunities, or our work in India, please email: Tijana: tijana@pratham.org.uk, Deepti: deepti@pratham.org.uk or Nick: nick@pratham.org.uk.
If you’d like to receive all the latest news and updates from Pratham UK, we’d love to have you join our monthly newsletter.