Alacrita Launches Charity Auction of Executive One-to One Lunches with Senior Figures from the Pharmaceutical and Venture Capital Industries

LONDON, November 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Life Sciences Seasonal Appeal to Raise Funds for Camfed International

Alacrita, which is changing the face of life science consulting, is delighted to launch its Life Sciences Seasonal Appeal. Alacrita is offering the unique opportunity for individuals from the life sciences industry to bid for a two-hour, one-to-one lunch with senior figures from the pharmaceutical and venture capital industries.

The Appeal aims to raise money for Camfed International (http://www.camfed.org), which invests in the education and empowerment of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa in an effort to fight poverty and the spread of HIV/AIDS. The charity auction is being run in partnership with the charity auction site charitybuzz.com. Bidding is open through http://www.charitybuzz.com/alacrita and closes on 19 December.

Senior figures from the life sciences industry who have kindly donated their time to the appeal include:

• Heather Bell, Head of Corporate Strategy and Shaun Grady, Head of Business Development at AstraZeneca plc
• Kate Bingham, Managing Partner at SV Life Sciences
• John Brown CBE, Chairman of BTG plc, Axis-Shield plc and Non-Executive Director of Vectura plc
• Barbara Dalton, Director of Pfizer Venture Investments
• Deborah Harland, Partner of SR One
• Anya König, Managing Director of the Novartis Venture Funds
• Carole Nuechterlein, Head of Roche Venture Fund
• Sir Richard Sykes, Chairman of The Royal Institution of Great Britain, former Rector of Imperial College London and former Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline plc
• Ian Tomlinson, Senior Vice President Head of Worldwide Business Development and Biopharmaceuticals R&D for GlaxoSmithKline plc

Bidding on the Alacrita auctions will be open until 19 December. Bidders must complete a simple registration process with a valid credit card at http://www.charitybuzz.com to place a bid. Winners will be informed following closing of the auction.

Rob Johnson, Partner at Alacrita, said: "We are thrilled to launch this seasonal appeal to raise funds for Camfed International. This extremely worthwhile charity has made a significant positive impact on the lives of many women in Africa and we are delighted to support its tremendous work. We are also hugely appreciative to the influential industry figures who are donating their time to the appeal. The auction provides the opportunity to spend a couple of hours over lunch gaining valuable insights into the business of pharmaceutical innovation, business development or how to attract venture capital - insights that could help businesses grow more quickly and be more successful."

Ann Cotton, Executive Director of Camfed International, added: "We are delighted that Alacrita is helping us to expand girls' access to education in Africa. Girls in villages in Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Malawi will soon know that the education they dream of is in their grasp. Thank you!

"Getting all the girls in Africa into school is imperative if they are to break the cycle of poverty for themselves, their children and their societies. Without education, girls have no choices. They marry men not of their choosing. They bear children year on year and through no fault of their own, they pass on their own poverty to the next generation.

"At Camfed, we are working in partnership with 3,470 schools in extremely poor communities. In the different countries, between 40 and 70 percent of the girls we support are orphans. In spite of the serious challenges they face, in Ghana for example, 93 per cent of Camfed supported girls finish secondary school. Many go on to higher education and 60 per cent have established businesses through Camfed's Seed Money Programme. The money raised will, quite simply, be transformative."

Notes to Editors

About Alacrita

Alacrita is rapidly growing consultancy that provides tailored, value added solutions to clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and life science sectors.

Alacrita applies its real-world expertise and experience to rapidly assess and understand the challenges faced by its clients and to develop solutions that exactly meet their needs. This blueprint is then used to access the Alacrita consultants best suited to deliver projects on time and on budget.

Alacrita provides its clients with access to consultants who combine extensive international industry experience (strategic, technical and commercial), broad functional capabilities and a track record of success across the life science sector.

In addition, Alacrita's network of more than 50 consultants with "hands on" management experience allows it to solve client resourcing needs at critical times in their corporate development.

Since inception, Alacrita and its network have completed successful consulting projects for big pharma, biotech companies, life science investors, government bodies and charities.

http://www.alacritaconsulting.com

About Camfed International

Camfed works with communities in sub-Saharan Africa to break the cycle of poverty by enabling rural girls and boys to access and complete primary school and girls to go on to secondary education. Camfed also works to improve the quality of this education by creating safer, child-friendly schools and approaches to learning.

Once a girl has completed her secondary education we continue to work with her, either by supporting her university studies, or providing training in Business, Financial Literacy, Leadership and Health. Many of those who complete this training go on to launch their own small businesses and Camfed supplies start-up capital in the form of grants to support these burgeoning enterprises.

Camfed's programmes have benefitted over 1,500,000 children and young women in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Camfed's power-sharing model is designed to ensure we work in close partnership with the local community. This holistic approach is underpinned by Camfed's Governance Model, which has been recognised as best practice, by various governments, multilateral organisations and practitioners in the field.

When you educate a girl in Africa she'll be three times less likely to get HIV/AIDS, earn 25 percent more income and have a smaller, healthier family; this is the systemic change Camfed has been delivering, and will continue to deliver to the millions of impoverished girls and vulnerable boys in sub-Saharan Africa that we consider to be our clients and to whom we are ultimately accountable.

For further information on Camfed please visit http://www.camfed.org or contact us on Tel: +44(0)1223-362648 or email [email protected]

For further information, please contact:
Rob Johnson or Anthony Walker at Alacrita
[email protected] or [email protected]
+44(0)207-691-4915 or +44(0)7884-183-560

SOURCE Camfed and Alacrita