Stephanie Shirley Interviewed by Nick Higham

Workplace revolutionary, successful entrepreneur and well-known philanthropist Dame Stephanie Shirley talks to former BBC journalist Nick Higham about her life, work and her strong belief in giving back to society.

Shirley pioneered new work practices when she started a software house, Freelance Programmers, in the 1960s. She made a personal fortune and famously also made 70 of her staff millionaires. Shirley has focused on philanthropy since her retirement in 1993. She was the UK’s first national Ambassador for Philanthropy in 2009/10, and her Shirley Foundation funded projects worth £67 million, mainly in the fields of IT and autism.

Shirley’s biography Let it Go tells how she left Germany under the Nazis as a five-year-old on one of the last Kindertransport trains out of Europe and subsequently built a life in the UK. So to Speak is a collection of speeches on women in business, philanthropy, and autism. Her late son was autistic.
Here Shirley speaks to Higham, a BBC journalist for 30 years, during which time he was an arts and media correspondent and presenter of Meet the Author on the BBC news channel.

This event is part of a new festival series on philanthropy.