George Phillipos: Investment and Financial Adviser
“My vision for the world is a greater level of peace overall; specifically, for The Hunger Project – to achieve the goal of eliminating chronic, persistent hunger.
My interest in The Hunger Project goes back to when I was 14 years of age. I picked up a magazine at the bus station here in Perth. In those days you saw famine, particularly in Biafra, the region in Nigeria. I could not understand that there’s enough food production in the world and where there was not sufficient distribution, people would needlessly suffer.
Back in those days, there was probably three billion people in the world, now it’s more than seven billion people, so that’s where my motivation initially came from. I could not understand how people could turn a blind eye to that type of unnecessary suffering.
I invest in The Hunger Project because it is more focused on getting to the root causes of chronic, persistent hunger than any group I know. I appreciate the unique Epicentre Strategy, the wonderful people The Hunger Project works with, how they source investors and work with integrity, honesty and inclusivity. I really value the work The Hunger Project is doing. It’s our humanity – you have to help lift every human being up.
Sustainability is very important. If you find a solution to something, you don’t want to go back and do it all over again. The Hunger Project is uniquely focused on that. Educating people is one of the most sustainable things that we can do. In Grade 7, there was a chart on the wall of my Primary School classroom and I will never forget the words it said: ‘Education is the key’. To lift people out of chronic hunger and poverty, education is the key.”
George Phillipos has invested in The Hunger Project since 1985.
Find out how you can join us on the journey to end hunger here.