Diplomatic World_69

PATRICK DOYLE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
INTERNATIONAL
DIPLOMATIC SUPPLIES (IDS)
I started IDS in a bedroom in my house in South London in 1997,
just working on my own for the first year supplying mainly British,
American and Canadian Embassies across Africa, Asia and the
Middle East. Then in the second year we started supplying the
foreign Embassies in London with duty free wines and spirits.
The company has grown organically over 25 years. In 2008,
we opened our office in Dubai, to see if we could offer a better
service and develop our business, and it proved to be a turning
point. We had a lot of customers in India, in Pakistan, and the
delivery time from Dubai was four days, compared to 30 days
from the UK.
Dubai is now the head office of the company and we have
approximately 65 staff here. We still have our UK office, where
we started. And subsequently we opened IDS in Miami to source
American goods for American embassies worldwide.
And that has also taken us into Latin America. We opened IDS
Europe, supplying the Brussels market, where our major focus
is to source directly from the vineyards: Spanish wines, German
wines, Italian wines, French wines, etc. We also offer a wide
range of groceries from around Europe.
At the same time, we are focussed on giving back to the community.
About 15 years ago, I was asked if IDS would support a
fundraiser in Sudan, raising money for children in Darfur with a
British charity called Kids for Kids.
Our charity work is not so much about corporate
responsibility as it is about human responsibility
We provided some refreshments to be used at the Embassy the
day of the event, and when I arrived, they had some beautiful
pictures of South Sudanese photographs, of Nubian warriors in
Sudan’s rugged backdrops. I volunteered to be the auctioneer
and we actually raised a remarkable amount of money for kids
that evening. The Founder, Patricia Parker, who had just been
awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the UK, eventually
asked me to become a trustee of the charity.
So for 15 years or more, I have had a very close relationship with
raising money for children in Darfur through Kids for Kids. One of
the things I did was organize the Ambassadors’ Ball in London
where every year we invited diplomats from around the world,
representatives from the British Parliament, business community,
etc. It serves as an annual fundraising for Kids for Kids.
When I moved to Dubai in 2019, I wanted to bring charitable
base to the company that we had in the UK and we found an
organization called Gentle Hands, which is an orphanage in the
Philippines. Those children have been found on the side of the
road at 2, 3, 4 years old. They have been physically, sexually and
mentally abused.
IDS has helped to fund the home-schooling programme for these
children found on the streets, and we also offered our staff the
opportunity to go to Gentle Hands as volunteers, and spend two
weeks caring for the children.
We were looking to find another charity to support and I went to
Ethiopia and met with a lady called Karen Kendall, a Dubaibased
lawyer. When she went to Ethiopia on a business trip,
some people told her about a child who had been left in a bush.
Karen couldn’t not do something about this, so she paid for the
medical care for the little girl. And through the process, Karen
adopted Ruby, who is now her daughter. And, realized through
the adoption process, there are a lot of children in this position.
IDS has committed to paying the annual food bill for the children
and staff at Shamida, the charity Ms Kendall founded.
When we opened IDs In Miami and we wanted to continue this
process. We engaged with an organization called Life Skills in
Haiti. We fund scholarships for nurses, worth approximately
USD 1,500-1,700 per year. These nurses come from poor families,
they do not have access to the funds but want to serve
the community. And so we stepped in and, first funding ten
scholships. We have since done another 22 scholarships and we
will continue each year to meet the request so that each of these
girls finishes their schooling. Haiti, as you may well know, has
been through an awful lot: earthquakes, diseases, etc.
All of these charities are not simply about ticking a box for us.
It is not so much about corporate responsibility as it is about
human responsibility. We make money as a business and we
want to give back, we actually search out where we can help and
who we can help. We do not really want to give money to big
charities.
We are also making strides on the sustainability front. By the
end of this year, our Dubai company will be carbon neutral. And
we are very much working towards making the entire company
carbon neutral.
ABOUT IDS
International Diplomatic Supplies (IDS) is the number 1
Diplomatic supply company in the world. Our business is
totally geared and focused to supply Embassies, consulates,
NGO’s and military bases who enjoy diplomatic privilege.
Our main focus globally is on the supply of beers, wines and
spirits from the more than 35 different supply countries through
our hubs, along with an extensive range of groceries, frozen food,
home & outdoor, health & beauty and baby & child products.
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