I come from down in the valley
Where, mister, when you’re young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and Mary we met in high school
When she was just seventeen
We drive out of this valley
Down to where the fields were green
We’d go down to the river
And into the river we’d dive
Oh, down to the river we’d ride
– From The River by Bruce Springsteen
This episode of TRI-POD, The Moodie Davitt Report video podcast series in association with The SEVA Group, features Patrick Doyle, the Dubai-based founder and Chief Executive of International Diplomatic Supplies (IDS).
What a remarkable entrepreneur’s tale this is. It relates the unlikely narrative of an enterprise founded in the bedroom of a London home 25 years ago and which has risen to become the global market leader in the diplomatic supply sector.
IDS celebrated its silver anniversary celebrations in Dubai on 13 May at an event The Moodie Davitt Report was privileged to attend. This not only marked the company’s commercial success but also placed the spotlight on Patrick’s outstanding work as a philanthropist, particularly in supporting children’s charities around the world.
“I’m at war with unfairness. There’s a lot of unfairness in the world and a lot of excessive wealth, and if we brought those two things together just a little bit better, the world could change.”
In this episode of TRI-POD, Patrick talks about growing up in humble surroundings in Dublin, Ireland. “In the winter, my father would deliver coal from a horse and cart and in the summer he worked on the roads. And each season he would be let go because he was no longer needed and then would have to go back to looking for a job for the next season
“I was too young to really appreciate quite what that meant, but I know now that my mum had a choice between feeding herself or the children and, obviously she chose the children.”
How did such experiences shape him? “I’m mentally tough,” he replies. “I approach everything as though I expect to win. I have very much a winning mentality.”
The conversation moves onto his early career with Beefeater gin at James Burrough and then to the early days in diplomatic supply. In 1997, fed up with the contrast between his extreme work ethic and some fellow managers, Patrick made the fateful decision to go it alone.
The conversation details an enthralling entrepreneurial journey, studded with the highs and lows that any business owner experiences.
And while that is a compelling saga, the real standout comes when Patrick talks powerfully and poignantly about the many causes he and his company have embraced (these are detailed below for readers who would like to know more).
“I don’t think of it as a CSR programme,” he comments. “Those three letters are not in my vocabulary. I have a business that is reasonably successful and which pays me quite well for what I do. And therefore we’re in a position to do something.
“I’m at war with unfairness – that is me. There’s a lot of unfairness in the world and a lot of excessive wealth, and if we brought those two things together just a little bit better, the world could change. It is so achievable if everybody puts their mind to it.”
As always, we take our guest to the resident TRI-POD duty free island. What music would he take with him (spoler alert: we may have given the game away already), what reading, what duty free item (a certain famed French fragrance house may like the answer) and which dinner party guests would he invite?
Expect some typically thoughtful answers in this compelling and deeply human episode.
Patrick Doyle on some of the charities he espouses
When we opened IDS Miami we adopted an organisation called Life Skills Haiti, which is run by a former Haiti Ambassador to London, Jean Pillard, to fund scholarships to train nurses.
When our customers reach US$100,000 sales with us, we create a scholarship and invite the customer (the Embassy) to fund one too. If they do, we will match 1 for 1.
IDS began a journey with Kids for Kids in 2008, a journey that has played a big part in our success. Once a company makes a serious commitment to help children who are literally dying of hunger, it’s not possible to stop. So, we must be successful. We must increase our efforts year after year to do what we can to enhance the lives of the children in Darfur who are living the harshest lives on the planet.
Through events like The Ambassadors’ Ball in London we have been able to raise over US$350,000. Other initiatives we have organised and funded have provided water pumps in remote villages. This is life changing for children who would otherwise walk for six or seven hours a day to collect water in jerry cans. Our commitment to the children in Darfur will continue for many, many years to come.
Our efforts with Gentle Hands centre on an orphanage in Manila, started by a caring Canadian couple and now run by their daughter. UNICEF estimates there are 1.8 million abandoned and neglected children in the Philippines. Many live on the streets without help. They face a short life of poverty, hunger, sickness and abuse, both physical and sexual.
IDS has helped to fund the home-schooling programme for these children found on the streets, ‘The Foundlings,’ as they are known. As well as funding, IDS offered our team members two weeks paid leave to volunteer at Gentle Hands in Manila. We have now sent nine teams of our staff to visit the orphanage, and more wanted to go.
Shamida Ethiopia aims to empower the country’s most vulnerable women and children. The charity highlights Ethiopia’s social problems which have been increasing at an alarming rate due to poverty, HIV, diseases, drought and conflict. The number of orphans and vulnerable children is increasing rapidly.
Shamida’s mission is to contribute towards the holistic development and self-sufficiency of women and children in difficult destitute circumstances. Its work includes providing housing for orphans and the reunification of street children with their families or guardians.
International Diplomatic Supplies (IDS) was started in 1997, originally supplying embassies in London, as well as exports from the English capital to British embassies around the world.  In 2005 Coe Vintners Owner John Coe invested in the business, which expanded to new markets in East Africa and The Middle East. In 2010 IDS Dubai was formed incorporating Intagulf FZCO, a Jebel Ali-based liquor import and distribution company formed by Mark Rogers in 2002. This gave IDS operations in both the UK to focus on the London market, as well as exports to Europe, North and West Africa; and operations in Dubai to focus on East Africa, the Middle East, the Indian Sub-Continent and Asia. Recent additions include IDS Miami and IDS Europe to serve a wider client base worldwide. The company’s focus is on the supply of beers, wines and spirits from the more than 35 different supply countries through its hubs, along with an extensive range of groceries, frozen food, home & outdoor, health & beauty and baby & child products. |
Note: Would you like to appear with Roger and Martin on TRI-POD? Drop Martin Moodie a line at Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com and we will be in touch.
