Front cover and feature sharing views on growth in business for the Spring 2016 edition of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Centre for Enterprise IMPACT magazine.
Hosted a successful charity dinner at the wonderful Nobu London in support of Namal College raising £150,000 in less than 3 hours.
Thoroughly enjoyed seeing Adele live at the O2 Arena with friends.
Peter joined the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for the official inauguration of the 3 MWp solar power plant at V.C Bird International Airport of Antigua. The solar plant was built and installed by PV Energy Ltd, Peter’s clean energy company, as the first part of a contract with the Government of the twin island state to develop and install 10 MWp of solar power on the twin island state.
Attended the Cass Business School’s Dean’s lecture and dinner. The title of the lecture was ’New approach to diversity’
Invited to attend the British Ethnic Diversity Awards at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House hotel in Park Lane
Attended the second War Child Winter Wassail at One Mayfair organised and host by actress Carey Mulligan and her husband, musician Marcus Mumford
Unveiled the first WW1 Sikh Memorial in the UK with the monument’s chairman Jay Singh-Sohal and Major General Patrick Saunders, CBE, DSO
Invited to be a Visiting Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Centre for Enterprise
On front cover and ‘Style with Substance’ feature in the Summer Edition of the Asian Wealth Magazine
The Virdee Foundation hosed a private dinner for Refuge
Invited to be the keynote speaker at the Asia Triennial Business Event at the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School
Unveiling of the portrait of Peter by the artist Conor McCreedy
Attended the Life After Football magazine launch
Attended the dinner in the Green Room at the House of Westminster hosted by Lord Indarjit Singh and Lord Walton in aid of the Monty Panesar Foundation
Participated in 'Inside Rolls Royce' on Channel 4
Peter Virdee and The Virdee Foundation supports Fly a Flag for the Commonwealth: A project of The Virdee Foundation.
Unveiled as New Sporting Equals Corporate Ambassador.
Honored by Chief Khalsa Diwan Charitable Society.
Became first Sikh Patron of The English National Opera.
Established The Virdee Foundation
Appointed to the Coutts & Co private bank UK Philanthropy Board.
Became a Patron of the NSPCC Charity
Represented fellow Sikhs at the Indian Memorial in Neuve – Chapelle in France
Invested in PV Energy
Invested in Bircroft
Reached over 400 KM/H in Bugatti Veyron 16.4
Invested in Winckley Traders
Founded B&S Property
Prof. Peter Virdee, born and raised in Birmingham, brings his Sikh faith to his commitment to business and philanthropy in Britain. “Blessed is the godly person and the riches they possess because they can be used for charitable purposes and to give happiness”
Guru Amar Das, one of Sikhism’s ten gurus, is reported to have said. Working hard to generate wealth is good, but only if the fruits of one’s labours are distributed well.
‘Sewa’ or service to the community is essential to a Sikh.
For Prof. Peter Virdee, it was the property sector on an international level which attracted a trained biochemist with an eye for an opportunity. A founding partner of B&S Property, they manage assets over £4 billion globally. Then he diversified his interests, and today holdings in renewable energy (www.pvenergyltd.com), minerals trading (www.winckleytraders.com) and insurance brokerage (www.bircroft.co.uk) all speak to his experience of the international business environment.
Following on from the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib Ji, a seminal Sikh thinker who said “A place in God’s court can only be attained if we do service to others in this world”, Prof. Peter Virdee has taken his passion into the charitable sector. The Virdee Foundation(www.thevirdeefoundation.com), set up in 2011, aims to relieve the needs of women and children who have or are in danger of suffering mental, physical or sexual abuse.
Sikhism stands out among world religions as one of the most gender-neutral. This much is clear in the aims of the charities supported by Prof. Peter, but the fundamental premise behind his thinking in this regard is to change all people’s lives for the better.
He is a patron of the NSPCC (www.nspcc.org.uk) and in support of this charity has played a substantial role as a donor in the building of Hargreaves Centre in Merseyside.
Prof. Peter Virdee is also on the board of the English National Opera, and proud to be its first Sikh Patron. He is also on the philanthropy advisory board of Coutts & Co. Just as charity in his chosen faith begins with caring for the family, and follows on from hard work, for Prof. Peter Virdee the attraction of successful business is all about engaging leadership around central human concerns.
As such, he continues to play a part in new business and philanthropic ventures, particularly ones that celebrate both his sense of being a Sikh, and being British.