Firm: The Children’s Investment Fund
City: London
2008 Age: 41
2008 Assets Under Management: $11 Billion
Originally from Addlestone, Surrey, Chris Hohn is the son of car mechanic who emigrated to Britain from Jamaica in 1960.
Hohn graduated from Southampton University and went on to get his MBA ar Harvard, graduating in the top 5% of his class. He started out his career on Wall Street, and in 2003 broke out on his own.
The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI) charges investors a 1.5% management fee – a third of which is given to charity. The Fund takes a 16% cut of the performance profits.
The charitable proceeds of the fund have been used to benefit projects across Africa and the developing world. A major focus has been helping children who have been orphaned by AIDS in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia and India.
Chris Hohn’s wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn runs, originally from Chicago, runs the charitable foundation. The ยฃ800 million in donations over four years has made the Hohns Britain’s most generous philanthropists.