In Memory of our Founder, Sir Alec Reed
4 December 2025
Remembering Our Founder, Sir Alec Reed CBE | 16th February 1934 – 2nd December 2025
Sir Alec Reed CBE, founder of Ethiopiaid and one of the UK’s most innovative philanthropists, passed away on 2 December 2025 at the age of 91. Described by The Times as “the man who revolutionised philanthropy”, he founded Ethiopiaid in 1989 after witnessing the depth of poverty in Ethiopia and chose a then-unusual model: funding and trusting local Ethiopian organisations rather than importing staff or infrastructure from overseas. Guided by his belief that “wealthy people have a responsibility to give”, Sir Alec’s vision has helped transform hundreds of thousands of lives in Ethiopia, and his values continue to shape Ethiopiaid’s work today.
Sir Alec Reed CBE, 1934-2025
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A tribute and obituary written by Sir Alec Reed's daughter, Alexandra Reed, who is also the Chair of Trustees for Ethiopiaid UK.
It is with deep sadness that I announce the death of our founder and my beloved father, Sir Alec Reed CBE who died on 2nd December 2025 aged 91.
Sir Alec was involved in philanthropy throughout his working life and was particularly interested in developing innovative ways of supporting charities. He was a serial entrepreneur not only creating Reed Global, the largest family run recruitment business in the world, but also founding seven charities including Ethiopiaid, Womankind Worldwide, The Reed Foundation, Alec Reed Academy, and Big Give.
Described by The Times as “the man who revolutionised philanthropy”, Sir Alec was knighted for his service to business and charity in 2011 and was awarded the Beacon Prize for Philanthropy in 2010. He was passionate about giving to charity and felt wealthy people needed to give much more.
“I started Reed recruitment with £75 in my pocket, but I am keenly aware that the business has continued to grow to a point where I now live in an extremely privileged position – whilst many in society are not. I believe that wealthy people have a responsibility to give and the wealthiest 1% need to be more proactive in supporting charities and making our world more equitable.”
Sir Alec Reed CBE
Sir Alec’s interest in Ethiopia began in 1987 when he was invited by Jember Teferra, an Ethiopian development worker, to visit the country. Jember was the great niece of Emperor Haile Selassie and had attended nursing college in the UK. Sir Alec travelled with my mother, Adrianne, to Addis Ababa thinking that he might be able to promote entrepreneurship and business skills. On arrival he was shocked by the poverty and poor sanitation that he witnessed. In one kebele (district) the streets were polluted from overflowing latrines. Sir Alec realised more practical solutions were needed and his first initiative was to buy a specially adapted suction truck to remove the sewage.
From this visit onwards Sir Alec was committed to helping improve the lives of people in Ethiopia and went on to found Ethiopiaid in the autumn of 1989 with an initial donation of £1 million to invest in fundraising. He did not set up an office in Ethiopia, instead he put his trust in local Ethiopian NGOs to carry out the work. He was impressed by the local charity leaders and felt they could have been entrepreneurs or business leaders if they had been operating in a different economy. They knew the context and had the expertise but lacked financial resources and that is where Ethiopiaid could help.
Sir Alec was ahead of his time as many larger international charities have now adopted a similar model of working.
In the early years of Ethiopiaid the focus was on Addis Ababa as it was hard to travel around the country under The Derg regime. The first partners Sir Alec selected were Hope Enterprises, Cheshire and Hamlin Fistula who Ethiopiaid still support today, over 30 years later. Sir Alec was insistent that administrative costs should be kept low so as much money as possible could be sent to Ethiopia.
As an entrepreneur he was always looking for new opportunities and he went on to establish Ethiopiaid Ireland (2002), Australia (2006) and Canada (2009) to broaden the fundraising base and ensure long-term sustainable funding for Ethiopiaid’s partners.
Sir Alec was a man of great enthusiasms and Ethiopiaid was certainly one of them. He described Ethiopia as “beguiling” and loved the beauty of the scenery and the unique culture. He visited Ethiopia regularly and I was lucky to accompany him on many of these trips and learned so much. He liked to personally keep in touch with the partners and see the challenges they were facing first-hand. The partners greatly enjoyed his visits, often inspired and amused by his “out of the box” thinking and innovative ideas and deeply appreciative of his long-term commitment. Sir Alec’s last visit to Ethiopia was aged 80 years old when we took a group of supporters to mark Ethiopiaid’s 25th anniversary.
In January 2024 Sir Alec was awarded a certificate of appreciation by the Ethiopian Ambassador, on behalf of the government of Ethiopia, in recognition of a lifetime’s dedicated effort, commitment and hard work to improve the lives of the Ethiopian people. The Ambassador drove to Sir Alec’s house in his diplomatic vehicle and presented him with the certificate and a Kaba, an ornamental robe traditionally worn by nobility. Sir Alec felt very honoured by this award but has always claimed that he “lit the touch paper” and the rest was thanks to Ethiopiaid’s wonderful partners, staff and especially our generous donors. Yet there is no doubt that he was responsible for transforming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Ethiopia.
I feel immensely proud of all that Sir Alec achieved and feel very lucky to have had such an amazing father. Despite all his business successes and accolades, what I loved most about him was his genuine care for those less fortunate and his desire to make the world a more equitable place.
Although we will all miss him greatly, Ethiopiaid will continue to be guided by his values and his legacy will live on through our collective effort to improve lives in Ethiopia.
Alexandra Chapman
Chair of Trustees, Ethiopiaid UK
Daughter of Sir Alec Reed
