Why an entrepreneur gave away a place to live
A new show sees an entrepreneur giving away a house. Radhika finds out why
Earlier this year, Marco Robinson announced that he would give away a house. The self-made British entrepreneur – estimated to be worth £25million – said he would dip into his 150-wide property portfolio and donate a £120,000 three-bedroom flat in Preston, Lancashire, to whoever he felt deserved it.
Eight months and 8,000 applicants later, the 49-year-old has done just that. And tonight, his journey to find someone to benefit from his unusual act of philanthropy will be featured in a Channel 4 documentary, Get a House for Free. “I wanted to give back,” explains Robinson, who has previously done something similar in America. “Very few people can afford to own anymore, with rents and house prices going up. Social housing is a huge issue. There’s very little Government help – it’s near impossible to get a mortgage and even people working full time can’t buy. It’s a mess.”
Homelessness is a subject close to Robinson’s heart. His mother left the turbulent family home when he was just two, and the pair often had to sleep rough across Derbyshire and London as she struggled to pay rent. By the age of 10, Robinson had been to more than 20 schools, and was homeless on-and-off into his teens.
He left education at 16 to work as a cleaner and, in his twenties, found a job in sales and started to earn enough to live comfortably. But it was only in 2008, after being fired and separating from the mother of his two children, that he came up with a million-pound business idea: creating a travel rewards scheme for employees at firms such as Citibank and BMW. From there, he expanded into property investment and founded luxury brand the Naked Group, which boasts a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur (winner of Tatler’s Best Restaurant Award 2015), as well as beauty salons, coffee, travel, wines and even a film foundation in the UK.
“Being homeless was one of the reasons I wanted to give people a home in a way I didn’t have myself,” admits Robinson, who had a heart
Sanghani
attack aged 29 as a result of his high-pressure lifestyle, and is now a clean eating convert. His journey to find the most deserving applicant sees him meet the likes of 18-year-old single mother Holly (“I feel like I’m stuck at the bottom of the pit and I can’t climb out”) and a family of Syrian refugees (“We’re homeless. We have nowhere to go but the street”). “It was overwhelming,” says Robinson, quietly. “Choosing who to give it to was the most difficult decision of my life.”
The experience also opened his eyes to the plight of foreigners in the UK. Robinson admits that, in the past, he had joined in with criticism of immigrants for taking opportunities away from Brits – but quickly changed his mind: “They were just struggling human beings. Some were amazing in terms of their dignity and humility.”
He also changed his children’s attitudes to money. Paige, 20, and Saul, 17, accompanied him on some of the quest, and Robinson credits it with helping them to accept his decision not to leave them a financial inheritance. “When I die, I don’t want anything left at all in my bank account. I help my kids but I don’t give them money. They were becoming a bit entitled. Meeting these people gave them perspective. It made them want to do something for the community.”
Robinson can’t reveal the winner but says he is confident he made the right decision: “I felt the people I gave it to were the most deserving. They had a lot going for them but, through no fault of their own, were in very sticky circumstances. My goal was always to give it to people who had a fantastic work ethic – a way out of a situation they’d stumbled into. [I wanted] to know they’d actually turn their lives around.”
He adds it was “one of the most amazing things” he has ever done, and hopes other millionaires will follow his lead. “There are people so much richer than I am. I want them to join me and give a house away to someone who needs it. I can’t wait to do it again.”