Kedge Martin, the genius behind Prince Harry’s charities. The genius behind Prince Harry’s favourite charities, businesswoman KEDGE MARTIN (below) has always been brilliant at forging connections and now she is using her know- how to help others fulfil their dreams. Catherine O’Brien meets the fairy godmother of reinvention Kedge Martin, chief executive at Sentabale, Prince Harry's charity. Lowri Tan was a model student. Bright, hard- working and focused, she excelled at sciences and achieved a master’s in biochemical engineering. A blue- chip career followed, first at BP, then at Cadbury and Kraft Foods, for whom she travelled the world. I was well- paid and successful but not fulfilled,’ she says. NZD (New Zealand Dollar) - Latest News, Analysis and Forex. https://www.dailyfx.com/nzd Latest NZD market news, analysis and New Zealand Dollar trading forecast.
I couldn’t believe this was going to be my life for the next 4. I couldn’t see the alternative either.’As her 3. Lowri decided on a high- risk strategy and quit. Some people said I was brave, but others thought I was naive,’ she recalls. For a couple of years, as she eked out her savings, her prospects seemed wobbly. ![]() ![]() Today, however, at the age of 3. Lowri has rediscovered her purpose. Her working days are spent not in state- of- the- art factories or laboratories but in her small London studio where she has reinvented herself as a silk artist with a signature scarf business. I’ve learnt that sometimes you have to take a step back to move forwards,’ she says. A Longbow course helped Lowri Tan swap careers from chemical engineer to scarf designer. Lowri is a millennial, a generation frequently dismissed as entitled, self- absorbed and lazy. Having spent time talking to her, I can vouch that she is none of these things. ![]() And Kedge Martin, the woman who helped Lowri achieve her career turnaround, agrees: ‘All of us, no matter how successful, go through bouts of confusion – and doubt – about what we are doing,’ she says. And the best thing we can do is start talking about it.’Kedge is not someone you will necessarily have heard of, but you may know something of her work. Back in the early 2. Well. Child out of what was then cumbersomely known as the Children’s Nationwide Medical Research Fund. Under Kedge’s stewardship, Well. Child launched a pioneering nursing programme to support chronically ill children and secured Prince Harry as its patron. Every year since then, the prince meets Well. Child children at the awards ceremony Kedge created, and which is featured exclusively in YOU. I was given the courage to dare to do something different After Well. Child Kedge went on to run Sentebale, the charity co- founded by Prince Harry to help orphans and vulnerable children affected by the HIV/Aids epidemic in Lesotho, Southern Africa. For almost three years, she was Harry’s guiding hand at the charity, travelling alongside him to the impoverished, landlocked country. In a recent ITV documentary, Harry declared that his experience with Sentebale had been transformative in helping him understand how to ‘make something’ of his life. While Harry’s work with Sentebale continues, Kedge’s new focus is to help everyone ‘make something’ of themselves. I’ve always enjoyed mentoring people. All my life I’ve been driven by wanting to make a difference and I decided it was time to formalise that,’ she says. Last year – together with a varied mix of professionals that includes neuroscientists, psychologists, educationalists, business executives and those who have worked in the Armed Services, public service and the voluntary sector – Kedge formed Longbow, a coaching organisation for everyone from school leavers to mid- lifers and even the occasional reluctant retiree. I took on someone the other day who is 8. He’d had his own business and sold it. And now he is asking, “What shall I do next?” How cool is that?’A scarf designed by Lowri Tan. Those seeking Longbow’s services are much more likely to be young people at a career crossroads such as Lowri, or those struggling to get started in the first place. Few decisions matter more when you’re young than choosing how to earn a living. With unemployment rates currently at record lows – around five per cent – and educational attainment at record highs – 3. UK population are now graduates, compared to 1. But the combined impact of globalisation and new technologies means that the employment landscape is changing rapidly, with many traditional professions being replaced by automation or outsourced to emerging economies. Meanwhile, careers advice in schools and universities is lamentably under- resourced and job- hopping is rife. A recent survey by Gallup showed that millennials are the least engaged generation in the workplace with 6. Prince Harry and Kedge Martin at a reception for charity Sentebale at Greenwich Country Club. If you are a parent of a vacillating millennial this all may sound depressingly familiar. But as a parent herself – to 2. Venetia and son Guy, 2. Kedge’s sympathies remain firmly with young people. It is harder out there than it was a generation ago and one reason for that is we have had two decades of pushy yet indulgent parenting,’ she says. We wanted to show our children that they are loved and valued – but we have overdone it. Yes, we have been more engaged and supportive than previous generations, but we have also told them they can be anything they want to be. Now they are thrust into the real world only to discover that there are no special favours and several years of hard grind ahead if they want to be successful.’Scratch the surface of many young people and you’ll find a woeful lack of self- esteem Factor in an unfamiliarity with delayed gratification – ‘no one waits for anything any more because you can have almost everything you want instantaneously with a few clicks on your smartphone’ – and the pressing need to be ‘making an impact’ and posting details of your fabulously successful life on social media and you end up with a misconception that everyone else but you has it all figured out. ‘Scratch the surface of many young people and you’ll find a woeful lack of self- esteem and resilience,’ says Kedge. A 2. 01. 5 study defining ‘Facebook depression syndrome’ – a condition in which spending a lot of time comparing oneself to others on Facebook goes hand in hand with feelings of inadequacy – would seem to endorse her theory.)As you would expect, Kedge has coaching qualifications but it is her life experience that truly equips her to help others maximise their career potential. Now aged 5. 0, she has a background that sounds posh and privileged, but Kedge has also had her fair share of turmoil. Kedge with Rod Stewart. Her mother is of Anglo- Irish aristocratic descent and her father was an Army officer turned stockbroker ‘who lost a lot of money and ended up a sad alcoholic with a superficially jolly mask’. Kedge (the name is a fusion of Kerry- Jane, which she hates) was aged nine and her brother David 1. David was enrolled at Eton and went on to university before becoming a successful filmmaker – he now runs his own TV production company in Ireland. Kedge, meanwhile, became a rebellious teenager who endured a chequered education and was expelled from her convent school – ‘I kicked up because that is what you do if you are an unhappy child’ – and was eventually packed off to secretarial college by her exasperated mother. Kedge credits an innate sunny disposition and a deep faith with seeing her through. I know what rock bottom looks like,’ she says. And I know what it is like to feel lost. But I also learned early on that when you are going through hell, the best thing is to keep going, because things generally work out fine in the end.’Kedge’s first job was as a PA and researcher to an MEP. I wanted to fight injustice, save the world and become prime minister, so it seemed like a good start.’ But by the time she met her future husband Stephen three years later, she had become disenchanted with the murky culture surrounding politics. This was the early 1. Stephen, then a management consultant, was made redundant, they decided to escape the recession and set up a laundry business in Poland. KEDGE'S COACHING COUNSELLife can sometimes feel uncomfortable, painful and difficult. But nothing is for ever and no experience is wasted. Everything that happens gives you the opportunity to learn and grow. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Roll with the punches and don’t waste time being angry or upset by people or situations. Remember, you can’t always control your circumstances but you can control your thoughts and responses. Always give a little more.
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