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RORY STEAR
Executive Chairman MobileWave Group plc
Executive Chairman Flambard Holdings Limited
Non Executive Chairman Minlam Asset Management LLP
Rory Stear is a South African/British “serial entrepreneur” who has founded and operated numerous ventures, starting when he was eighteen years old.
In 1994, Rory and Chris Staines founded Freeplay Energy Group and created an international company to develop market and distribute self-sufficient technology products. Rory led the company from its inception until it was sold in August 2008.
Freeplay Energy is a global micro energy company with core competencies in product research and development, technology research and development, sales and marketing.
Prior to being sold in July 2008, Freeplay Energy was a role model for corporate social responsibility, including being showcased in the Agenda issue of Fast Company Magazine and in numerous other publications around the world. In 1998 Rory founded the independant Freeplay Foundation, since renamed Lifeline Energy, today a registered charity in the UK, USA and SA, which itself has become a highly respected international charity. The business model that Rory developed for Freeplay, which had a for profit company alongside but separate from a non profit charity, has been the subject of two academic case studies and Rory is a frequent speaker at dinners, business schools and conferences around the world on his vision of business being a force for social responsibility.
Rory is Executive Chairman of MobileWave Group plc, a London listed holding company in the Mobile Relationship Marketing field, as well as managing investments on behalf of his investment vehicle, Flambard Holdings, in financial services, renewable energy, environmental packaging and data management. He is Non Executive Chairman of Minlam Asset Management LLP, a New York based micro finance company.
Accomplishments
Rory was one of the first South Africans invited to join the African Business Roundtable (1995). In 1996 he was a member of President Nelson Mandela’s business delegation to the UK and again travelled with the President on his 1998 visit to the USA.
In 2000 Rory completed the prestigious Birthing of Giants programme, sponsored by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Young Entrepreneurs Organisation.
He is a member of the Young Presidents Organisation and the World President’s Organisation London chapters and is a member of the Dean's Council at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Rory is a member on the Advisory Board of The Business School at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Rory is a member of the RAC Club in London and a member of numerous South African golf clubs and Wentworth Golf Club in England.
Internationally respected business journal, Business Week, named him one of the global “Top Entrepreneurs” of 2000.
In August 2000 he received the Theodor Herzl award in Jerusalem from the former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, in recognition of his “impressive vision and tremendous accomplishments”.
In 2002 Rory was elected a fellow of the Geneva-based Schwab Foundation for Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs. The Schwab Foundation, which is affiliated to the World Economic Forum, elects to its ranks the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. Rory has attended and made presentations at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos for the last eight years.
Rory has been profiled in Business Week, Director, Fast Company, Enterprise, the Financial Mail, Financial Times and the London Sunday Times, amongst other leading publications as well as appearing on CNBC, CNN, BBC and PBS. He has been a featured guest on “Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria” in the USA.
In 2007 Rory was named one of CNN/Time/Fortune’s “Principal Voices” in recognition of his stand on global energy poverty.
In October 2007 he and his wife Kristine Pearson, who heads Lifeline Energy, were named “Global Environmental Heroes” by Time Magazine. In November 2008, he was appointed a member of the Renewable Energy Council of the World Economic Forum’s Council for the Global Agenda. He was reappointed in June 2009.
Personal details
Rory, 51, is married to Kristine Pearson and they travel extensively between homes in South Africa, London and the USA. In his leisure time he enjoys golf, music and reading biographies and business publications. Rory is also a keen follower of Manchester United and all South African national sports teams.
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