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Ronald Mourad Cohen
Sir Ronald Mourad Cohen (born 1 August 1945) is an Egyptian-born British businessman and political figure. He is the chairman of The Portland Trust and Bridges Ventures. He has been described as "the father of British venture capital" and "the father of social investment".
Cohen was born in Egypt on 1 August 1945, to a Syrian-Jewish banker, Michael Mourad Cohen, and a British mother, Sonia Douek, also of Syrian-Jewish origin. In 1957, following the Suez Crisis, Cohen's family was forced to abandon all their assets and flee Egyptian president Nassar's persecution of Jews. The family (including younger brother Andre) moved to England. His father started his own import/export business, but having arrived with just £10, life was a struggle.
Though initially speaking only a few words of English, Cohen went to Orange Hill grammar school in North London, now part of Mill Hill County High School where despite describing it as "a school of very doubtful reputation" he excelled.
Cohen won a scholarship to Oxford University, where he became President of the Oxford Union, and earned a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Exeter College. He subsequently attended Harvard Business School, where he was a member of the Harvard Business School Rugby Club.
After leaving Harvard Business School, Cohen worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company in the UK and Italy. In 1972, along with two former business school colleagues as partners, he founded Apax Partners, one of Britain's first venture capital firms. The company grew slowly at first, but expanded rapidly in the 1990s, becoming Britain's largest venture capital firm, and "one of three truly global venture capital firms". Apax provided startup capital for over 500 companies, and provided money for many others, including AOL, Virgin Radio, Waterstone's, and PPL Therapeutics, the company that cloned Dolly the sheep. In 1996 Cohen helped establish Easdaq, a technology focused stock exchange intended to be the European counterpart to the American NASDAQ. He is the recipient of a Jubilee Award for services to Israeli business, awarded by Benjamin Netanyahu and the BVCA's Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers and is also a fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.
In 2002, alongside Jon Moulton, he was the inaugural inductee into the Private Equity Hall of Fame, at the British Venture Capital Association and Real Deals' Private Equity Awards.
In 2000, at the invitation of the Treasury he became Chairman of the Social Investment Task Force (SITF). The remit of the SITF was "to set out how entrepreneurial practices could be applied to obtain higher social and financial returns from social investment, to harness new talents and skills, to address economic regeneration and to unleash new sources of private and institutional investment". The SITF made several recommendations to Government, including that it: (1) introduce Community Investment Tax Relief (CITR); (2) match finance to help set up the first community development venture capital fund; (3) encourage banks to disclose more of their lending activities; (4) to support legislative and regulatory changes to provide greater latitude and encouragement for charitable trusts and foundations to invest in community development finance; and (5) to create the Community Development Finance Association (cdfa) to provide support for community development finance institutions (CDFIs).
In 2002, he co-founded and became chairman of Bridges Ventures, an innovative sustainable growth investor that delivers both financial returns and social and environmental benefits. Bridges Ventures has raised eight successful funds to date: Bridges Sustainable Growth Funds I, II and III, the Bridges Sustainable Property Fund, the CarePlaces Fund, Bridges Property Alternatives III, the Bridges Social Entrepreneurs Fund, and the Bridges Social Impact Bond Fund. The organisation currently has almost £600 million under management. The portfolio includes a number of businesses who invest in regeneration areas or have a sustainable business model. Bridges Ventures has had several successful exits to date, including The Gym Group, The Office, Simply Switch, HS Atec and Harlands of Hull.
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Ronald Mourad Cohen
Sir Ronald Mourad Cohen (born 1 August 1945) is an Egyptian-born British businessman and political figure. He is the chairman of The Portland Trust and Bridges Ventures. He has been described as "the father of British venture capital" and "the father of social investment".
Cohen was born in Egypt on 1 August 1945, to a Syrian-Jewish banker, Michael Mourad Cohen, and a British mother, Sonia Douek, also of Syrian-Jewish origin. In 1957, following the Suez Crisis, Cohen's family was forced to abandon all their assets and flee Egyptian president Nassar's persecution of Jews. The family (including younger brother Andre) moved to England. His father started his own import/export business, but having arrived with just £10, life was a struggle.
Though initially speaking only a few words of English, Cohen went to Orange Hill grammar school in North London, now part of Mill Hill County High School where despite describing it as "a school of very doubtful reputation" he excelled.
Cohen won a scholarship to Oxford University, where he became President of the Oxford Union, and earned a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Exeter College. He subsequently attended Harvard Business School, where he was a member of the Harvard Business School Rugby Club.
After leaving Harvard Business School, Cohen worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company in the UK and Italy. In 1972, along with two former business school colleagues as partners, he founded Apax Partners, one of Britain's first venture capital firms. The company grew slowly at first, but expanded rapidly in the 1990s, becoming Britain's largest venture capital firm, and "one of three truly global venture capital firms". Apax provided startup capital for over 500 companies, and provided money for many others, including AOL, Virgin Radio, Waterstone's, and PPL Therapeutics, the company that cloned Dolly the sheep. In 1996 Cohen helped establish Easdaq, a technology focused stock exchange intended to be the European counterpart to the American NASDAQ. He is the recipient of a Jubilee Award for services to Israeli business, awarded by Benjamin Netanyahu and the BVCA's Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers and is also a fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.
In 2002, alongside Jon Moulton, he was the inaugural inductee into the Private Equity Hall of Fame, at the British Venture Capital Association and Real Deals' Private Equity Awards.
In 2000, at the invitation of the Treasury he became Chairman of the Social Investment Task Force (SITF). The remit of the SITF was "to set out how entrepreneurial practices could be applied to obtain higher social and financial returns from social investment, to harness new talents and skills, to address economic regeneration and to unleash new sources of private and institutional investment". The SITF made several recommendations to Government, including that it: (1) introduce Community Investment Tax Relief (CITR); (2) match finance to help set up the first community development venture capital fund; (3) encourage banks to disclose more of their lending activities; (4) to support legislative and regulatory changes to provide greater latitude and encouragement for charitable trusts and foundations to invest in community development finance; and (5) to create the Community Development Finance Association (cdfa) to provide support for community development finance institutions (CDFIs).
In 2002, he co-founded and became chairman of Bridges Ventures, an innovative sustainable growth investor that delivers both financial returns and social and environmental benefits. Bridges Ventures has raised eight successful funds to date: Bridges Sustainable Growth Funds I, II and III, the Bridges Sustainable Property Fund, the CarePlaces Fund, Bridges Property Alternatives III, the Bridges Social Entrepreneurs Fund, and the Bridges Social Impact Bond Fund. The organisation currently has almost £600 million under management. The portfolio includes a number of businesses who invest in regeneration areas or have a sustainable business model. Bridges Ventures has had several successful exits to date, including The Gym Group, The Office, Simply Switch, HS Atec and Harlands of Hull.
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