Matthew Spacie

Twelve years ago, UK businessman Matthew Spacie founded Magic Bus: an NGO empowering marginalised children and youth in India to bring about positive change in education, gender, health and livelihoods. This year the charity will work with 150,000 children and 2,000 youth, using sport as a development tool. In 1999, Matthew Spacie invited children from the local slum to play rugby with his local team in Mumbai. The change in the youth was immediate. Over time they studied, developed as leaders and brought about social change in their communities. Magic Bus' vision is now to reach out to 1 million similar children by 2015. As the Founder and CEO, we believe Matthew perfectly embodies the Olympic values and the power of sport to change lives. The BMW Foundation is linked with Magic Bus in various ways: Members of the BMW Foundation Young Leaders Network have built up Magic Bus Germany as a fundraising office. With the BMW Foundation as an intermediary, BMW India recently agreed to support Magic Bus's local community work in Delhi and Chennai.