Camila Batmanghelidjh

Camila Batmanghelidjh is the founder and director of Kids Company, one of London’s most prominent children’s charities. Born to an affluent family in Iran, she was 9 when she decided to devote her life to helping disadvantaged children. Kids Company, which she founded in 1996, provides emotional and practical support to for vulnerable and ex-offending young people from across London.

Her 30 years’ experience as a psychotherapist, combined with the expertise of over 600 staff, have so far helped over 17,000 of London’s most vulnerable young people. Often called the ‘Angel of Peckham’, she has devoted her life to securing the charity’s future, and re-mortgaged her home twice in order to keep it afloat. She is convinced that no child who knocks on her door can be allowed to slip through the net.