Each of us has a completely unique set of talents and abilities that can flourish when properly nurtured. Leading a fulfilled life requires being able to identify and develop these, so we can become the people we are meant to be.

Our work in the education space takes us to some of the poorest countries in the world where we partner with teachers and local community members to create interventions that get kids back into school and remove barriers to literacy and numeracy, creating the conditions for children to flourish.

We see business and innovation as the engine for generating opportunity, jobs and enduring prosperity for everyday people.

Entrepreneurs solve other people’s problems by identifying societies’ needs and building products and services to meet them. The innovation required to do this thrives in open and free societies. It is the painstaking process of trial and error with the goal of creating value for others.

Our support ranges from direct investments in start-ups to the provision of scholarships at MIT for future business leaders from developing countries. Importantly, Legatum seeks to promote the idea that entrepreneurship is a social good and that a healthy business environment is key to economic development, growth and prosperity for all.

There are many great ideas in the world, but resources - both human and financial - are what turn those ideas into the businesses, projects and initiatives that drive a country’s prosperity.

We believe well run companies are a force for good and that by investing in them we are contributing to their success, as well as ensuring our own business stays healthy and well resourced.

For those trapped in poverty, simple illnesses which have long been forgotten in wealthier countries still have the potential to become completely debilitating and hold people back. Treatments are often unavailable or too expensive for families to access.

There are low-cost treatments and vaccines available today to treat river blindness, elephantiasis, intestinal worms and trachoma, just as there are ways to protect against, treat and stop the spread of HIV. Even so, too many children are still unable to go to school because they have worms in their bellies while their parents are losing their sight for the lack of a little medicine or a minor operation. So, whilst that continues to be their reality, we will continue to work to change it.

The need to be free is core to each and every one of us. It is part of what it means to be human. Free to make choices, free to speak the truth, to worship as we please, to build a life and just to be who we are.

Feeling free is about more than literally being free - and so we look to understand the institutional factors which impact our individual freedoms, as well as the emotional ways in which feelings of freedom are inhibited through coercion, depression, or just the daily grind of life in poverty.

However, for around forty million people trapped in slavery, freedom is still about literally ‘being free’. Until the day comes where we can finally consign this evil to history, the majority of our attention is directed in this area.

We trust in people's ability to create their own strong, healthy and happy communities. When the barriers to progress are understood and removed, individuals will naturally find or create the right opportunities.

We are involved in a series of ventures that are underpinned by this thinking, generating research that allows us to measure poverty and prosperity and equip policymakers to make better decisions around how to improve the enabling environments which lead to the creation of prosperous societies.

Additionally, we actively support the creation of community-led organisations that encourage the development and strengthening of civil society.

We are all connected, and so when a tsunami hits, a famine takes hold, or a disease becomes an epidemic, witnessing the pain of others makes many of us feel compelled to act.

Mobilising aid during times of extreme crisis is a significant challenge faced by many governments and large NGOs. It can take far too long to reach people and any delays further exacerbate the problems communities are experiencing on the ground. We have access to capital; we have access to expertise and, most critically, we are able to deploy our resources at speed. And so, we do.