Trustees’ Annual Report for the period
From 1[st] January 2021 to 31[st] December 2021
Charity name: Castlepines Medical Foundation Charity registration number: 1187050 Charity address: Level 4, 97 Jermyn Street, St James’s, SW1Y 6JE
Trustees All Trustees acted for the whole year other than as specified below David Grose, Chairman Neil Carpenter, Secretary Stanley Shepherd, Treasurer Ngozi Erondu (resigned 25 May 2021) Ian Jacobson David Heymann (resigned 29 Sep 2021) Tafadzwa Mugwagwa
Castlepines Medical Foundation Trustees Annual Report for 2021
Page 1 of 5
Structure and management
The charity is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organization whose only voting members are its trustees.
The charity is managed by the Board of trustees under the chairmanship of David Grose. The Board held 3 Board Meetings and an Annual General Meeting during the year.
Trustees have been identified through known contacts of current trustees and recruited and appointed by the Board.
The potential trustee is introduced to the existing Board of Trustees and is interviewed by the Chairman and at least one other trustee. Following a successful interview, the applicant will be discussed by the Board to ensure the individual provides a complementary set of skills, knowledge and experience, and has the commitment required to be an actively contributing Board member. Trustees are appointed to the Board based on the skills, knowledge and experience that they bring to the Charity to complement those of the other trustees. The Board will vote to determine whether the applicant should be invited to become a trustee and, if a quorum (minimum 4 votes) is reached with positive votes, the applicant is formally invited to become a trustee. On appointment, the new trustee will receive a copy of the current signed Constitution as well as access to all historic trustees Annual Reports and statements.
Objectives
The advancement of health and relief of suffering, principally from non-communicable diseases and long-term chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, hypertension, cardiovascular, coronary heart disease and diabetes to countries in Africa, through providing medicines to hospitals and health centres where there is no adequate provision of these health services to vulnerable children and adults by the State.
Activities
The trustees met on 4 occasions during 2021 to discuss progress on the last-mile distribution project, fundraising and charity set-up activities.
In 2021, Castlepines Medical Foundation charitable activities continued to be thwarted by the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic through travel restrictions, funding challenges and the reluctance of banks to open a new charity account. As the establishment of a bank account for the charity was a pre-requisite for funders and grant-givers the Trustees were not able to make progress on fundraising activities. The trustees reached a decision to pause further research
Castlepines Medical Foundation Trustees Annual Report for 2021
Page 2 of 5
and set up activities whilst the request for the new charity bank account was being processed. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic there were widespread refusals by UK banks to support the opening of any new charity or indeed business accounts. At the end of the year, our requests to open a new bank account had still not been accepted by any UK banks.
Unfortunately, the lack of traction and demanding personal and professional commitments resulted in the resignation of two Trustees: CEO Ngozi Erondu (21[st] May) and Professor David Heymann (29[th] September).
Achievements and Performance
The Charity continued to focus on identifying key areas where it could impact the supply and delivery of medicines for non-communicable diseases and long-term chronic illnesses in Africa, starting with Project Zambezi in Zimbabwe. The goal of the project was to serve the ‘last mile’ in remote areas, by partnering with private organisations which had supply chains extending into these hard-to-reach areas. In 2020 CEO Ngozi Erondu had established relationships with food and beverages organisations in Zimbabwe and despite the restrictions on travel was able to establish Memorandum of Understandings with these partner organisations.
Due to changing health priorities caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 the team had decided to explore the possibility of transporting Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) along with essential medicines. However, it was not possible to launch the strategy without existing delivery infrastructure in place.
In 2021 due to financial pressures and a lack of external funding the board was not able to fund consultancy fees for researchers assisting with the setup of Project Zambezi.
Prior to her resignation in May, Ngozi Erondu continued to foster relationships with key stakeholders, particularly with logistics partners and PPE suppliers, and put together a research proposal to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the distribution of pharmaceutical products to the last mile in Zimbabwe. However, a combination of lack of progress on establishing a charity bank account combined with human resourcing pressures resulted in the CEO stepping down from her role and a pause of setup activities for Project Zambezi.
Neil Carpenter was appointed interim CEO.
Castlepines Medical Foundation Trustees Annual Report for 2021
Page 3 of 5
Subsequently, in September 2021 Professor David Heymann also stepped down from the board of trustees, citing increased activity on other COVID-19 related commitments as the reason for his resignation.
Ngozi Erondu subsequently resigned as a Director of Project Zambezi Limited on 27[th] November 2021.
We confirm that the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.
Bank Account
In addition to the setup activities for Project Zambezi, the major priority for 2021 was the establishment of a bank account for Castlepines Medical Foundation. Unfortunately, this was extremely challenging and despite numerous efforts and a huge investment of time and energy the Trustees were unable to open an account by the end of the year.
When challenged on the decision to reject the account application, one bank eventually confirmed that Zimbabwe was considered by that bank to be at risk for money laundering. There were also concerns that funds received in the form of a grant may not come from a verifiable source and, despite our evidence to the contrary, the application met the criteria for rejection with no option for appeal.
Efforts continued throughout the remainder of 2021 to open a charity bank account.
Financial review
During 2021 the charity did not engage in any fund raising, received no funds and incurred no expenses.
At the end of 2021 the charity had no funds and no reserves.
The charity has a Loan from David Grose provided in 2021 of £72,116.94 which is interest free, has no fixed term, and is repayable by the charity at times and in amounts determined by the charity.
Since David Grose is a related party, a trustee, the Board recognised the need to ensure any conflict of interest was properly managed.
Castlepines Medical Foundation Trustees Annual Report for 2021
Page 4 of 5
The trustees have not identified any conflict of interest in accepting the loan:
-
neither financial conflicts - e.g. a trustee, or person or organisation connected to them, could get money or something else of value from a trustee decision.
-
nor loyalty conflicts - e.g. a trustee might not be able to make decisions that are best for the charity, if the charity’s decision involves a person or organisation linked to a trustee.
No funds were held as a custodian trustee.
Reporting
This 2021 Trustees Annual Report, and the 2021 Annual Return and the 2021 Annual Accounts have been submitted late. This was due to inexperience on the part of the trustees, which has now been overcome.
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature
Full name David Grose Chairman
Date 15[th] December 2023
Castlepines Medical Foundation Trustees Annual Report for 2021
Page 5 of 5
Castle ines Med p
Income and Expenditure 1st Janu
Income £/GBP Net Sales Nil Charitable Activities Grants received Nil Public Body Grants Nil Donations & Legacies Donations - Companies Nil Donations - Individuals Nil Legacies Nil Total Nil
Outstanding loan
£72,116.94
NOTES
Outstanding loan is interest free with no fixed term Repayment is due at times and in amounts determin Trustees did not claim travel or other expenses
ical Foundation
| ical Foundation | |
|---|---|
| u |
ary 2021 to 31st December 2021 |
Expenditure £/GBP |
|
| Cost of Sales Nil Charity Administration Nil Web design and admin Nil Trustees meetings Nil Staf costs (UK) Nil Nil Miscellaneous costs and consumables |
|
| Total expenditure Nil |
|
| Closing bank balance Nil ned by the trustees |