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· Founder
and Executive Chairman of Econet Wireless, Strive Masiyiwa
to be honored with the IRC’s Freedom Award
· Corporate
Leader Award goes to MasterCard
· John
C. Whitehead Humanitarian Award goes to long time IRC board
member and supporter, Josh Weston
· Feature
Performances by Nico & Vinz and Chris Botti
The
International Rescue Committee will
host its annual Freedom
Award Dinner to
support the organization’s lifesaving humanitarian aid work
around the world on Wednesday, November 4, 2015. The event,
which will take place at the historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel
in New York City, will honor Founder and Executive Chairman
of Econet Wireless, Strive
Masiyiwa with
the Freedom Award, President and CEO of MasterCard, Ajay
Banga with
the Corporate Leader Award and Josh
Weston will
receive the John C. Whitehead Humanitarian Award.
The evening will feature special performances by international
music sensation Nico
& Vinz and
American trumpeter and composer Chris
Botti. Appearances
include IRC
President and CEO David
Miliband and
resettled refugees Omar Almashhadani and Ali Almashhadani. Other
guests in attendance will include The
Cooking Channel’s Eden
Grinshpan as
well as celebrity supporters Sir
Patrick Stewart, Brad
Raider, Ranjana & Naeem
Khan and Bibhu
Mohapatra.
The Freedom Award has been presented to individuals who have
made extraordinary contributions in support of refugees, and
who have championed the cause of liberty, individual freedom
and dignity. Mr. Masiyiwa is the maverick founder, chairman,
and CEO of Econet Wireless Group, a diversified
international telecommunications group based in South
Africa. He has won numerous accolades and gained
international recognition for his business expertise and
philanthropy, and is considered one of Africa’s most
generous humanitarians. Masiyiwa has used his wealth to
provide scholarships to over 100,000 young Africans over the
past 20 years through his family foundation. He supports
over 40,000 orphans with educational initiatives, as well as
sponsoring students at universities in America, the United
Kingdom, and China. Masiyiwa also funds initiatives in
public health and agriculture across the African continent.
In 2014 CNN’s Fortune Magazine named Masiyiwa one of the 50
most influential business leaders in the world.
The Corporate Leader Award is presented to a company at the
leading edge of innovation that uses their business model
and expertise to advance social good, in addition to
elevating the IRC’s ability to help those touched by
disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their
future.
For the last four years, under Mr. Banga’s visionary
leadership, MasterCard has been an invaluable partner in the
IRC’s work, from providing emergency assistance in Syria,
Iraq, Nigeria, and the Central African Republic, to
supporting victims of the East African drought in Kenya,
Ethiopia, and Somalia, to helping those impacted by the
great earthquake of 2011 in Japan. MasterCard has also
invested in the IRC to help build its internal capacity
across a variety of areas, most recently in expediting cash
transfer and digital payments programming capabilities in
many countries where immediate access to funds saves lives
and enables livelihoods to continue. IRC is also using
MasterCard Aid electronic voucher technology to improve
efficiency and beneficiary choice when delivering emergency
assistance.
The John C. Whitehead Humanitarian Award was created in
recognition of Mr. Whitehead’s half-century of
transformational leadership of the International Rescue
Committee (IRC). The award will be presented annually at the
IRC’s Freedom Award Dinner to individuals who embody Mr.
Whitehead’s spirit and passion for humanitarian causes and
who have made significant contributions to saving and
improving lives around the world. Established in February
2015, the award memorializes Mr. Whitehead’s lifelong
commitment to humanity through selfless, courageous,
creative, and compassionate acts. Mr. Weston is Honorary
Chairman of the Board and the former Chief Executive Officer
of Automatic Data Processing, one of the largest companies
in the world dedicated to providing computerized transaction
processing and information services. He serves on the Boards
of the NJ Performing Arts Center, Liberty Science Center,
and the IRC
The Co-Chairs for this year’s Freedom Award Dinner are
Katherine Farley & Jerry I. Speyer, Ken & Vickie French,
Ruth & David Levine, Gillian M. Shepherd & Eduardo G. Mestre,
Catherine & Tracy Wolstencroft. Vice-Chairs are Marie &
Joseph Field, Evan G. Greenber, Ace Group, Maurice R.
Greenberg, Starr International Foundation/Starr Foundation,
Maureen White and Steven Rattner.
ABOUT THE IRC
The International Rescue Committee helps
people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict
and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their
future. IRC teams provide health care, infrastructure,
learning and economic support to people in 40 countries,
with special programs designed for women and children. Every
year, the IRC resettles thousands of refugees in 26 U.S.
cities. Learn more at Rescue.org and
follow the IRC on Twitter & Facebook.
Links
For more information about the IRC please go
to
www.rescue.org
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