Sophia Swire

Overview

After graduating from Manchester University in the 1986, Swire worked for Kleinwort Benson as a merchant banker in the 1980s, but gave up her career in the City to focus on development work.

Career

Swire co-founded and chaired Learning for Life, an NGO that has established over 250 schools for girls in rural Afghanistan, Pakistan and India for which she was awarded the 2010 Award for Empowering Women in Pakistan. A founding trustee from 1993, Swire chaired Learning For Life’s board from 1995 to 2000.

In 2008, at the invitation of Rory Stewart and the Prince of Wales’ foundation, Turquoise Mountain, she was asked to put her fashion business and life in London on hold and return to Afghanistan to establish a school for jewellers and gem-cutters at Turquoise Mountain. She launched the first contemporary Afghan jewelry collection for Turquoise Mountain with designer, Pippa Small, during London Fashion Week. The first students graduated in 2010.

In 2010, Swire became the senior gemstones advisor to the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, funded by the World Bank. The job entailed inspecting gemstone mines to ensure their safety for workers and finding ways to involve more women in the jewelry and gemstone sector. After interviewing Afghan miners and sector experts, she developed the National Development Strategy and Policy for the Gemstone Sector in Afghanistan.

Swire has campaigned with Global Witness, as part of the Publish What You Pay campaign, to implement a global policy for better governance of the mining sector promoting transparency and to fight kleptocracy. She was an advisor to the Afghan Chapter of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (‘EITI”).

Future Brilliance and Aayenda Jewelry

In 2012, Swire established Future Brilliance, a women-led, Afghan non-profit organization offering workplace skills and enterprise development training. Swire worked to revive the jewelry industry in gemstone-rich areas of the country. The first Future Brilliance project trained 36 Afghan gem-cutting and jewelry artisans in Jaipur, India, and assisted them in forming Afghanistan’s first jewelry co-operative and brand, Aayenda Jewelry.

Fashion

In 1990, she launched and managed an ethical cashmere fashion business, Sophia Swire London. Swire is widely acknowledged as the entrepreneur who launched the international fashion for pashmina shawls.

Political Life

In 2014, Swire stood as a candidate for South-West England and Gibraltar in the elections for the European Parliament.

Producer, Writer and Speaker

Sophia Swire is a published writer, and has produced current affairs and history documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4. Swire is also a sought-after speaker, and has spoken at various events and conferences in the USA, UK, India, Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa. In 2015 she spoke at the United Nations in New York for Women’s Entrepreneurship Day.

Family History

On her father’s side, Sophia is a descendent of Sir John Swire, a 19th century global adventurer, tea trader, and shipping magnate (or Taipan), who founded Hong Kong. On her mother’s side, she is descended from both William the Conqueror and Oliver Cromwell. Her mother is the Dowager Marchioness Townshend. Her brother, The Right Hon Sir Hugo Swire KCMG MP, is a former Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.