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| Thai children: Deutsche's bankers in Asia are looking to combat the spread of HIV/Aids among rural hill tribes by sponsoring health education |
Investment bankers are used to pitching for business in far-flung places. But even for such old pros as Deutsche Bank's Ken Borda and Jeremy Paul, the hill tribes of northern Thailand must have seemed an unlikely venue.
Even less likely was the audience facing Deutsche's Asia ex-Japan CEO and chairman of global markets – 200 villagers on the floor of a bamboo village hall who gathered to see Borda and Paul launch a new charity.
The Deutsche Bank Asia Foundation has pledged e5 million to provide support and education for HIV/Aids-affected orphans. Two million children in Asia have lost parents to the virus, according to UNAIDS.
The charity will fund education for 80 Thai orphans as well as providing vocational training in schools and health education for hill tribes. The Deutsche bankers met orphans and their guardians in Mae Saui, a village with an estimated HIV/Aids infection rate of 15%.
With a lack of health education, many children from the village sent to cities are vulnerable to the risk of HIV infection, a problem that Deutsche intends to fight with the health education programme.