Work 💪
Hormuud: putting Somalia’s private sector in the room
Aid budgets are shrinking, while donors are asking how limited funding can go further. In Somalia, that question increasingly leads to the private sector, which already provides much of the infrastructure and many of the services people rely on.
At AidEx - The Global Humanitarian Aid Community Nairobi, we designed and hosted a private breakfast roundtable for Hormuud Salaam Foundation , Hormuud Telecom Somalia Inc. and Salaam Somali Bank (SSB).
Nearly 20 senior figures from the World Bank, IFC, UNICEF, IOM, UNCDF and FCDO joined the Somali Ambassador to Kenya for a candid conversation about what genuine private sector partnership in Somalia could look like, and what it would take to make it work.
Octopus Legacy: a phone for the words left unsaid 🕊️
One of the hardest parts of grief is the instinct that remains. Something happens, you think to call, and then remember they are no longer there.
For Father’s Day, Octopus Legacy installed London’s first wind phone on the South Bank. The disconnected receiver gave people a private place to speak to someone they had lost, whether to mark a milestone, say “I miss you”, or simply share one of those everyday updates.
The idea began in Japan, where Itaru Sasaki built the original kaze no denwa after the death of his cousin. Following the 2011 tsunami, he opened it to others in his coastal community. Wind phones have since appeared around the world.
This was London’s first, and a thoughtful, compassionate way to make space for a kind of conversation that usually has nowhere to go.
Bupa: a healthier city, one step at a time 🏋️
We swapped meeting rooms for forest trails this month, joining Bupa Global’s Healthy Cities Kenya Community Walk at Karura Forest.
Colleagues, clients, brokers, partners and members of the community came together for a morning of walking, salsa dancing and stretches energetic enough to test everybody’s commitment to the cause.
The event was part of Bupa’s wider Healthy Cities initiative, which encourages people to move more while supporting healthier, greener communities.
By the end, everyone had moved a little more, laughed a little more and remembered why Karura Forest is one of Nairobi’s great pleasures.
NTT DATA: a new name for a larger ambition 👾
A new name arrived in Uganda this month, but the people, relationships and experience behind it remain.
Dimension Data Uganda is now NTT DATA, Inc. . Our Kenya team supported the launch, helping the business explain the change and what it opens up next.
A rebrand only works when people understand what is changing, and what is staying the same.
CleanCo: cocktails for the hottest week of the year 🍹
CleanCo launched its first ready-to-drink cocktails this month, giving people the taste and ritual of a mixed drink without the alcohol.
Founder Spencer Matthews sat down with City AM’s Adam Bloodworth over a couple of very cold cans to talk about the new range, his own relationship with alcohol and the growing fascination with longevity.
Most CleanCo customers still drink. The appeal is choice: a drink when you want one, and an alcohol-free version when you do not.
Our team secured the interview and sampled the range in the interests of proper preparation. During one of London’s hottest weeks, nobody objected.
Watch the full interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi2x9_kdBsM
Spencer also delivered a coolbox to the team at HELLO! Magazine , who had equal need of something cold.
See more here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZ7W6MJt3SI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Woodrow 🌱
Influence Economy: the question nobody could quite settle 📰
“Can we do a part two?”
That was the question we heard most after launching Influence Economy at Woodrow HQ this month, despite two hours in a room made tropical by the June heat.
Alan Rusbridger joined senior figures from Press Gazette , dmg media and TLDR News to talk about the future of media, and the question beneath it: who shapes what people think now?
The answer used to sit in a handful of newsrooms. It now moves between front pages, TikTok clips, YouTube channels, podcasts, and creators.
So we brought together some of the biggest names in the industry to talk plainly about its biggest challenge: how to reach people when their attention, trust and loyalties are spread across so many places.
The question was bigger than the time we had, and nobody was ready to leave it there.
In July, we will publish a full report on what we heard.
London Climate Action Week: from Guildhall to the Palace 🌍
Some weeks have a little more theatre than others.
London Climate Action Week began at Guildhall, where 2,500 people from more than 100 countries gathered for the Climate Innovation Forum. Al Gore was there, alongside the current and incoming COP presidencies, ministers, business leaders and reporters from AFP , edie , the Financial Times , Reuters and the The New York Times .
Our team ran the media room, which meant keeping the machinery moving while the people shaping the climate debate came through the doors.
Later in the week, the conversation continued at Buckingham Palace. Theo James, Benedict Cumberbatch, Simon Stiell and COP delegates gathered for a royal roundtable on the climate work already happening, and what still needs to happen next.
Guildhall and Buckingham Palace in the space of a few days. Even by Woodrow standards, June had its moments.
People 🧑🤝🧑
Charlie returns to London 💂
Since moving to New York and becoming a father, Charlie Tarr ’s visits to London have become rarer, though never under-photographed.
He spent more than a week back at HQ in June, catching up with the team, working through plans for the months ahead and producing baby pictures at a rate no meeting agenda could quite contain.
It was very good to have him back.
Welcome to Ariana White 👋
Our New York team welcomed Ariana White as Associate Vice President this month.
Ariana has built her career around subjects that are often difficult to explain and increasingly important to understand: science, healthcare and emerging technology.
She has worked with global companies, venture-backed businesses, universities, research institutes and mission-led organisations, helping them find the clearest and most compelling version of their story.
We are very glad she has chosen to do the next part of that work with us.
Mental Health Festival: taking play seriously 🧠
We ended June with our annual Mental Health Festival and a subject adults are often surprisingly bad at taking seriously: play.
Four-time Emmy-nominated writer and producer Jameel Saleem joined the team to talk about finding comedy in chaos, the value of humour during difficult times and what makes a good writer.
Colleagues joined from London, Nairobi and New York for a thoughtful and very funny conversation about why play is not an escape from serious work, but often part of what makes it possible.
Welcome back, Lucy 👋
Lucy Aughterson first joined us for a short placement last year. She made such an impression that we asked her back.
Lucy is studying history at the University of Edinburgh and will spend the summer supporting the London team across research, reporting and media.
Welcome back, Lucy.
