SOPHOS AFRICA UK (SAUK) third Annual Report
(From April 2024 till end of March 2025)
A. SAUK’s Reference and Administrative Information
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SOPHOS AFRICA UK was registered as a by the Charity Commission for England and Wales on 18[th] January 2022 with the registration number 1197557.
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SAUK’s principal office address is 70, Blairhead Drive, Watford, WD19 7RJ
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The names of SAUK’s trustees on the date this report was approved are:-
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Christopher Reveley (Chair)
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Alastair Mitchell-Baker
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Brian Mitchell
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Nicola Hunt
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Louise Smith
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Our founder and Executive Director is Dr Desta Heliso Anshebo. Dr Desta is invited to attend many of our Trustees Meetings and he also leads SOPHOS AFRICA charities in Ethiopia and in USA.
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SAUK’s Financial Reporting period is April 1[st] till March 31[st] and this our third Annual Report from April 1[st] 2024 to 31[st] March 2025.
B. The Objects of SAUK are:-
For the public benefit and in line with Judeo-Christian principles:
- to prevent or relieve poverty, suffering and distress in Africa, in particular, but not limited to:
a. supporting income generation schemes amongst socially and economically disadvantaged communities, with a particular focus on women and young people; and
b. researching and raising awareness of the causes of poverty and developing and promoting mechanisms to relieve the causes;
- to promote racial and religious harmony for the public benefit by advancing knowledge, mutual understanding and peaceful relations between different ethnic and religious groups.
C. The activities and achievements of SAUK up to end of March 2025
Activities undertaken by SAUK during the financial year 2024/5 have included:-
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a) Completing the second Annual Accounts and Report to the Charity Commission
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b) Conducting a review of our SAUK Policies and Risk Register for operational matters
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c) Dr Heliso’s weekly interactions with the SOPHOS AFRICA Ethiopia staff team and his four visits to Ethiopia to undertake work activities directly
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d) Dr Heliso’s participation in several Conferences in the USA including amongst the Ethiopian Diaspora.
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e) Promoting the vision, mission and objects of SOPHOS AFRICA in the UK
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f) Fund-raising in the UK, US and Sweden/Germany.
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g) Having some turnover of SAUK Trustees, as two who had served three years stepped down and we appointed two new Trustees.
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Achievements of SAUK up to March 2025
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a) Supporting Dr Desta’s work in Ethiopia during which SOPHOS AFRICA has:-
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Developed capacity in Ethiopia with more than 2,000 students and young professionals (from different ethnic and religious backgrounds and now with chapters in five cities) signed up to be supporters/advocates of the SA Vision .
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Entered agreement with a national Bank (Berhan bank) to establish a Revolving Loan Fund to provide loan finance, assurance and guidance to our ethical entrepreneurship (poverty alleviation & income generation) program for future selected groups of unemployed graduates.
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Saw the start-up of ten business (from 10 selected business cases) and a further 16 Interns placed from the first 30 unemployed graduates to go through the ethical entrepreneurship training last year
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Continued to host Breakfast Club discussion meetings with Government Officials, senior business people and academics and senior Church leaders to highlight issues around ethno-centrism, religious extremism and corruption.
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Launched the first set of modules for the Praxis programme within the Ministry of Justice and the Addis Ababa Leadership Academy and a major Seminary based upon SOPHOS AFRICA produced materials. This is a key mechanism that SA will use to bring about corporate/organisational transformation in Ethiopia.
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Funded by Norwegian Church Aid, SA conducted a piece of focused research which produced six Recommendations which will be presented to senior Government bodies. These propose ways to improve and develop greater racial and religious harmony, and mutual understanding and peaceful relations between different ethnic and religious groups.
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b) SAUK work in the UK
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Completed the running of Project Harmony (funded by a grant from the Lottery Fund) which ran till late 2024 with public meetings including at the School of Oriental & African Studies in London to address issues and promote harmony around ethnicity and identity within the UK-based Ethiopian diaspora.
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Continued to provide bi-monthly updates to a wider network of those interested.
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c) The Trustees have had regards to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit:-
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By ensuring that those engaging with the SOPHOS AFRICA Ethiopia events and training courses are from a variety of racial and religious backgrounds;
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By establishing the link between corruption (often on racial or religious grounds) and poverty; this included focussed research leading to recommendations presented to national Government officials
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By launching a first cohort of young professionals either into start-up businesses or into internships.
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By maintaining and setting up to expand the ethical entrepreneurship programme (for unemployed graduates) in 2025.
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By providing informed research related to challenges to racial and religious harmony and proposing recommendations to improve mutual understanding and peaceful relations between different ethnic and religious groups within Ethiopia.
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By running Project Harmony in the UK which aimed to foster inter-ethnic harmony and promote better community relations amongst the diaspora.
D. Financial Position
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a. For the financial year ending March 2025 SAUK’s income came from:
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i. Fieldstead & Co – 12%
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ii. Individual donation income (regular & one-off) – 54%
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iii. UK Trust funds and donor organisations – 30%
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iv. Churches – 4%
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b. SAUK’s primary expenses are:-
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i. The costs of employing our UK-based Executive Director, Dr Desta.
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ii. The costs of equipping him to travel and work in Ethiopia, other parts of Africa and, occasionally, to the US or Europe.
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iii. The costs of events held in the UK including the Project Harmony events.
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iv. Remittances that we wish to make to support SOPHOS AFRICA project work or operational costs in Ethiopia in line with SAUK Objects.
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v. The costs associated with promoting SOPHOS AFRICA in the UK and the costs of operating as a charity.
E. SAUK’s Reserves Policy
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a. The minimum operating costs of SAUK are defined by the need to pay our Executive Director and to equip him to travel to Ethiopia a number of times a year plus to other locations for fund-raising purposes. Administrative costs are minimal and other UK-based tasks are covered by the Trustees and our volunteer accountant.
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b. Therefore, our Reserves Policy (which is to have a minimum of three months expenditure in our Bank Account at any time) minimum amount has been raised this year. As of March 31[st] 2025 that quarterly minimum reserve was £11,500 and we have been compliant with our Reserves policy throughout the period being reported upon.
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Sophos Africa
Receipts and payments acc
For the period To from Apr-24
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment funds funds funds to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
| to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | |||||
| 41,569 | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | 41,569 | - | - | ||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||
| - | |||||
| 50,197 | 9,029 | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| **Sub total ** | 50,197 | 9,029 | - | ||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | |||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end |
|||||
| - | |||||
| - 8,628 | - 9,029 | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| 22,805 | 10,000 | - |
Cash funds this year end
14,177 971 -
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the per
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Details Bank Balance at the end of theperiod Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
Details Bank Balance at the end of theperiod Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14,177 | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| 14,177 | |||
| OK | |||
| Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
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| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
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| A Laptop | Unrestricted funds |
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| Details | Fund to which | ||
Fund to which
B5 Liabilities
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
Signature |
Print Christopher W Alastair Mit |
|---|---|
1197557 counts CC16a Mar-25
Total funds Last year
to the nearest £ to the nearest £
41,569 60,060 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 41,569 60,060
| - | ||
|---|---|---|
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| 60,060 | ||
| 59,226 | 48,254 | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| 59,226 | 48,254 |
| - | - | |
|---|---|---|
| - | ||
| - | - | |
| 48,254 | ||
| - 17,657 | 11,806 | |
| - | - | |
| 32,805 | 20,999 |
15,148 32,805
| ri | od | od | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restricted funds to nearest £ |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||
| 971 | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| 971 | - | ||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - |
| Cost (optional) | Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|---|---|---|
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - |
| Cost (optional) | Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|---|---|---|
| 750 | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - |
| Amount due | Amount due | When due |
|---|---|---|
| - |
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Date of Name approval William Reveley tchell-Baker
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
| Report to the trustees/ members of On accounts for the year ended |
Sophos Africa UK | Sophos Africa UK | Sophos Africa UK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2025 | Charity no (if any) |
1197557 |
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 March 2025.
- Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
| Signed: Name: Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: |
10 December 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Adam Perryman | ||
| Associated Chartered Accountant (ACA), member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) |
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| 14 Savernake Close | ||
| Reading | ||
| RG30 4LY |
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IER