documento

TOPSHOP HEIRESS AND BUSINESSWOMAN
CHLOE GREEN
ON AN EYE-OPENING TRIP TO SOUTH
AFRICA THAT HAS MADE HER REFLECT ON
HOW LUCKY SHE IS
2
orty-eight hours before hello!
Fmeets Chloe Green, she looks a
million dollars, partying at New
York’s Grand Central Station at the
glitzy launch of her billionaire father
Sir Philip’s flagship Topshop store.
Now the 23-year-old shoe
designer, who by her own admission
wants for nothing materially, is
sitting on a classroom floor, holding
the hand of 12-year-old Gladys
Ramatsie. The youngster is weeping
for joy after receiving the news that
she has a very real shot at realising
her dream of becoming a lawyer.
“I held her hand and she
squeezed mine so tightly,” says
Chloe. “When I tried to let go she
held on and said, ‘Please don’t go,
please give me this as something I
will remember you for.’”
Gladys lives in the village of
Madombidzha in Limpopo, South
Africa’s northernmost province,
which has a 48 per cent unemployment
rate. She shares a two-roomed
cement brick house with her parents
and three younger siblings. The
children’s bedroom doubles as a
kitchen, with no running water. That
has to be carried from a borehole a
20-minute walk away.
Until today, Gladys’s future in her
under-resourced state school wasn’t
promising. There seemed little hope
that she would escape the poverty
that blunted the ambitions of her
mother, who had to abandon school
and seek employment to ensure her
family’s survival.
ALL-FEMALE FUNDRAISERS
But all that has changed thanks to
the all-female fundraising tour, Cash
& Rocket, which in June crossed
Europe using 35 luxury red cars,
and in which Chloe took part.
Cash & Rocket, which raised
$1.3million (£830,000) following
the tour, is the brainchild of Julie
Brangstrup, an entrepreneur and
mum of six who each year handpicks
70 women from the fashion,
film, music, art and business worlds
to take part in the tour with the
purpose of raising global awareness
and funds for three African charities:
OAfrica, Shine on Sierra Leone and
Sumbandila. “It was set up to bring
inspiring women together,” says
Julie. “Throughout history women
have done things differently to get
something done. We do it together.”
Sumbandila, which means “show
the way”, provides impoverished
rural children with a high-quality
secondary education along with a
strong mentorship programme. It
nurtures leadership potential and
entrepreneurial skills while
encouraging social responsibility.
It provides academically gifted