The digital infrastructure industry has spent much of the past decade solving a relatively familiar problem: how to build enough capacity to keep pace with gro...
Partnership brings social impact into focus at The Tech Capital’s International Finance Forum and Global Awards, with Big Issue founder John Bird set to lead proceedings as Master of Ceremonies.
The collaboration will see Big Issue Group formally associated with the Global Awards, which take place alongside The Tech Capital’s International Finance Forum on May 11-12. The event is expected to convene around 400 delegates from across the digital infrastructure investment landscape, including operators, investors, advisers and policymakers.
The partnership introduces a social impact dimension to an event typically focused on capital allocation, infrastructure delivery and market dynamics. The alignment reflects a broader recognition of the societal implications of large-scale infrastructure investment, particularly as artificial intelligence, energy systems and digital connectivity reshape economies.
Lord Bird, founder of the Big Issue and a crossbench peer in the House of Lords, will lead the awards ceremony in his capacity as Master of Ceremonies. His involvement brings a perspective shaped by decades of work addressing poverty, financial exclusion and social mobility.
Lord Bird said: “Today, I’m Lord Bird MBE. But I was brought up in an orphanage and served time in a young offenders’ institution. During turbulent times, I slept rough as one of London’s homeless.
“I never forgot the hardship of my youth and the ways in which deprivation afflicts thousands of others in similar positions at the fringes of society. 35 years ago, I founded the now world-famous magazine, the Big Issue. The weekly street paper achieves its mass-circulation by being sold on the streets by vendors who are homeless or vulnerably accommodated. The deal is simple: proceeds of each copy sold are split equally between the vendor and the publisher.
“Reflecting my own philosophy, the deprived and underprivileged are given a hand up through earning their money, rather than waiting for a hand-out which may do little more than trap them in the poverty they crave to escape. The Big Issue, alongside 110 similar magazines, is now published in 35 countries across the world, and always with the aim of helping those struggling for a break in society.”
The Big Issue operates a vendor-led distribution model, where individuals experiencing homelessness or financial hardship purchase copies upfront and sell them at a margin, retaining a share of the proceeds. The publication has expanded globally, with sister editions still active across Europe, Asia and Australia.
The partnership is intended to create a point of intersection between financial markets and social enterprise, particularly at a time when environmental, social and governance considerations continue to influence investment strategies.
The Global Awards form part of The Tech Capital’s International Finance Forum, now in its fifth edition. The London gathering is positioned around capital flows into digital infrastructure, with discussions spanning financing structures, energy constraints, sovereign investment strategies and the operational realities of scaling AI-driven demand.
João Lima, Founder and Managing Editor, The Tech Capital, said: “The Global Awards have always been about recognising the people and organisations shaping digital infrastructure at a time of significant change. As capital, energy and policy increasingly converge around the sector, it is critical to recognise not only execution, but impact. Partnering with the Big Issue brings an important perspective, grounding the conversation in the broader societal context of how infrastructure is financed and delivered.”
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About The Tech Capital
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About the Big Issue Group
Big Issue Group is a social enterprise working to end poverty through social business solutions. With 3.8m people in the UK experiencing destitution, Big Issue Group creates opportunities and solutions for people to work, earn, learn and thrive. It consists of a number of different entities:
Big Issue Media: A world-famous, award-winning magazine sold on the streets of the UK since 1991. Vendors who sell the magazine earn their income as their own mini enterprises, buying magazines for £2 and selling them to the public for £4, keeping the difference. Big Issue journalism champions positive solutions to ending the poverty crisis, within the pages of the magazine and on bigissue.com.
Big Issue Changing Lives CIC: A community interest company set up to enable and support people in poverty to work, earn, learn and thrive. This includes support services for Big Issue vendors, who receive help with developing skills, finding housing and improving health and wellbeing.
Big Issue Invest: A social investor which invests in organisations that work to end poverty and inequality in the UK. Founded in 2005, it offers loans and grants from £20,000 to £4 million to social-purpose businesses and charities across the UK. The capital raised by Big Issue Invest is from private sources and not from sales of the magazine.
Big Issue Recruit: A person-centred recruitment service working with employers and candidates to help people facing barriers to work to obtain and retain sustainable employment.
Big Issue Impact: An impact advisory business working with corporate clients to create better social outcomes, enhancing their ESG and sustainability thinking, capabilities and go-to-market strategies.
Lord John Bird’s parliamentary office: Lord Bird, co-founder of Big Issue Group, is a crossbench ‘People’s Peer’, appointed in 2015. He leads the Big Issue’s campaigning function, which is currently campaigning for the government to set legally binding poverty reduction targets.
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