August 6, 2019

Meet our Advisers: Fraser Handcock

In the second of our blog series introducing our Advisory Board, Fraser Handcock provides insights from his experience in the corporate and charity sectors. He has been a member of the Board since January 2017 and has provided us with a broad range of support in all areas of the business from personnel through to finance. His experience with fast growing companies and scaling up will mean that Fraser’s guidance in the future will be vital in aiding our internationalisation. 

 

My interest and support for GoodBox stems from my experience as a charity trustee and from my exposure to the payments sector.  There is a stark contrast in the levels of investment, sophistication and technological underpinning of each domain.  This convinces me that where these sectors overlap there is both a huge need to improve and a huge opportunity to improve.

Payments is part of a fintech revolution which has seen companies, worth tens of billions of dollars, be created in a few short years. We have witnessed the rise of contactless payments, the seamlessness of taxi journeys where you don’t even need to put your hand in your pocket, one-click online payments and it is common to read strident predictions forecasting the end of cash. And the revolution is far from over: blockchain, finger-vein payments and facial recognition are new avenues for investment.

Meanwhile as I get off my tube every morning, behind folks making their way through the gates with a quick tap of the card or touch of their wrist, I almost always see a charity campaign in action: dressed up in an outlandish outfit, smile firmly in place…and rattling a collection tin. I rarely give despite admiring the commitment of the fundraisers (who
are often still there at the end of the day when I go home) as I haven’t carried loose change in my pocket for a few years now.

So, when GoodBox started to explore a charity focused payments capability I was immediately intrigued. By being tailored to the charity sector and using modern but established technology, it can help the entire industry catch up with the way the rest of the market works in the 21st century.  It is a worthy and overdue foray from private enterprise to support a vital pillar of our society.

As a trustee of a charity I know how sub-standard the infrastructure is that surrounds the sector. If GoodBox can bridge this gap it will mean that the charities can raise more money, meet donors expectations around money transfer, spend less time on non-core administration and reduce wastage. This can only be a good thing and I wish them every success with it.

Presently, Fraser is the Head of Portfolio for Rothschild Five Principle Investment, his current focus is to identify and realise enhanced equity returns across the Five Arrows mid-market funds.  Previous to this, Fraser had been the COO at Charlotte Tilbury – helping to scale Britain’s premier beauty business into a global powerhouse. Responsible for people, supply chain, strategy and operations, and until January 2018 for finance, legal and IT.  During his time with them the business doubled its headcount and revenues and expanded their reach into North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia (Hong Kong).
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