Trustees & Founders

Ajay Sood - Trustee

Ajay Sood was born in Kisumu, Kenya and has lived in the UK for nearly 40 years. He attended Pembroke House School in Gilgil, Kenya, becoming Head Boy there, after which he emigrated with his family to Canada where he finished his schooling, obtained degrees in Commerce and in Law and was called to the Ontario Bar. He later completed an MBA at London Business School and worked in general management for American Express. With Antonia, his wife, he co-founded and ran for 16 years a publishing business in the finance and management sectors which was eventually sold to a UK public company. Ajay's interests are in enterprise-building and youth leadership development.

Having originally set up The Beacon Scholarship, Ajay is looking to bring in external partners and extend the Beacon model into other countries.

 Antonia Sood - Trustee

Antonia Sood was born in the UK and completed a degree in Russian at the University of Bristol. She worked for the UK Ministry of Defence then, after travelling widely, worked in the third world aid sector focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa. She subsequently completed an MBA at London Business School, after which she worked in financial publishing before co-founding a publishing business, which was successfully sold after 16 years.

Having set up The Beacon Scholarship with Ajay in 2008 as a fellow Trustee, Antonia has been involved in all aspects of the Beacon, but has now stepped back to an oversight role, with a particular focus on Scholar monitoring and content management.