FreePlay Foundation

The FreePlay Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation which distributes 'self-powered technology products' - primarily wind up radios - to Africa.

Background

According to its website: "Recognising a need for alternative energy sources amongst the world's poorest communities, the Freeplay Energy Group, now Freeplay Energy plc, founded the Freeplay Foundation in 1998 as an extension of the group's commitment to development and empowerment". The organisation makes and sells wind-up radios, called "lifeline radios".

The foundation's first project involved the shipping of upwards of 7,000 Freeplay radios to flood-stricken communities in Mozambique in 2000, in co-operation with the U.S.-based United Methodists.

The radios were first designed by British inventor, Trevor Baylis, who sold the rights to his technology to two South Africans - Rory Stear and Christopher Staines.

Controversy

Orignally the radios for the Foundation were made by disabled workers in South Africa. However, that plant has now closed. An article in the Sustainable Times noted: "But the company has had to fend off sharp criticism following the closure of the Cape Town plant. (Freeplay managed the Cape Town plant on behalf of disabled organizations, which were the actual owners.) The announcement was greeted by a demonstration of about 100 workers and an accusation by the National Union of Metal Workers that Freeplay had misled Nelson Mandela."

The article continues: "In the U.K. the most serious criticisms came from Trevor Baylis himself, who by now had distanced himself from Freeplay, even though he remains a shareholder in the company. "I wasn't particularly happy because I do believe that South Africa is going through struggling times. It is rather crass to raise money on the back of disabled people in South Africa [via Liberty Life], the people that actually need the income."

The wind-up radio technology has been seized upon as "a secret weapon in America's battle for the Afghan airwaves" by the U.S. government who have been using radios as part of psy-ops operations, called Commando Solo. It is unclear whether these are Freeplay patented radios.

The inventor of the technology developed and sold by FreePlay, Trevor Bayliss is reported as saying: "To think when I was sitting there with a load of springs and cogs and wires that one day this technology would be used by the American military to help fight their wars is quite astonishing. What a compliment. But now the genie is out of the bottle, I only hope it is not used for evil."

A trustee of the FreePlay Foundation Andrew Bearpark is an adviser to governments, international organizations and the commercial sector on 'post conflict reconstruction'.

Funders

Freeplay is funded by Anglo-American (owners of AngloGold Ashanti with which one of the directors of FreePlay - Lynda Chalker - is associated), Vodaphone Group Foundation and the Body Shop. The Freeplay Foundation also receives an annual grant from the Freeplay Energy Group with which it shares some managerial and administration resources.

Trustees

United Kingdom Trustees

• Andrew Bearpark
• Baroness Chalker - (also a non-executive director of Freeplay Group).
• Stephen Stonberg - Head of Business Development at Brevan Howard Asset Management.
• Terry Waite - former advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury
• William Leeson - director of the Garden Africa Project.
• Lieutenant General Sir Michael Willcocks
• Eleanor Johnson

South African Directors

• Alan Rubin
• Philip Nichols
• Gregory Groenmeyer

United States Trustees

• Edward Burns
• Kristine Pearson [5] Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship which works with the World Economic Forum. [6] The Charles Schwab Corporation is one of the U.S.'s largest financial services firms
• Colleen Rini