Full video interview with Richard Verity available on: www.CoffeesOnMeDavidQuan.com ! Join the ‘Coffee’s on Me, David Quan’ Podcast Community - 1 Gift in Newsletter, 10+ socials, 100+ interviews, 20,000+ contributors - for more opportunities 💙

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Guest Richard Verity: "Interviewees don't always get the interviewers they deserve. But with David Quan 权丁文, Alsama became lucky. No other interviewer prepared so broadly and probed so deeply. At times, I felt uncomfortable, but that was a price I was glad to pay in return for empathy and understanding. I now understand why 'Coffee's on Me, David Quan 权丁文' Podcast commands such a following and community.“
Thank you to Nigel, Fairy, and Amelia for the filming!

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Richard Verity is a former management consultant and ex-McKinsey partner who, in 2020, radically changed his life trajectory. Alongside Kadria Hussein, Mohammed Khair, and his wife Meike (Micah) Ziervogel, he co-founded the Alsama Project — meaning "the sky" in Arabic.

The journey that led to Alsama began, as Richard describes it, with a "simultaneous midlife crisis." Meike had written five novels and was running a publishing company in North London; Richard was spending his time in company headquarters, airports, and hotels. What was missing from their outwardly privileged lives was a palpable feeling of social impact. So, when their children left for university, they went to Lebanon. There, Richard did, in his words, "one brilliant thing": he introduced cricket to the teenagers of Shatila refugee camp, simply because he spoke no Arabic and needed a way to connect.

As a non-contact sport where boys and girls can train and compete together, cricket became what Richard calls "a crash course in coping with success and failure" — and critically, a vehicle for girls' leadership in a context where 41% face early marriage.

As Head of Strategy and Development, Richard has helped grow Alsama from a small empowerment centre into an award-winning NGO. They now operate four WASC-accredited education centres serving over 1,000 students - 66% of whom are girls - alongside 22 cricket hubs reaching 900 players across Lebanon. In February 2025, they launched their first international education centre in Syria.

The model is remarkable: 90% of students arrive completely illiterate, yet Alsama prepares them for university in six years rather than twelve. The project has prevented early marriage for 256 girls - 99% of cases. And in 2026, they will launch the G12++, a first-of-its-kind, curriculum-agnostic high school equivalent certification designed for and by refugees and displaced youth, co-developed with Cambridge Assessment, Oxford MeasurED, the University of Leicester, and Alsama's own students.

What speaks most to Alsama's character: during the 2024 war in Lebanon, they were the only educational provider that did not miss a single day of school.

Their work has been recognised with the 2024 Library of Congress Literacy Award and the 2025 Ockenden Prize for advancing the self-reliance of refugees.

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WHY? COFFEE'S ON ME, DAVID QUAN 权丁文
TL;DR: To process my emotions after a grueling campaign for President of The Cambridge Union, I reflected upon the influences of my late Grandfather and wrote him a letter: www.coffeesonmedavidquan.com. Drawing inspiration from him, I hope to learn more from others through genuine discussions – giving listeners heartfelt conversations filled with authentic insights, and giving guests legacy-worthy interviews to treasure. After completing over 100 interviews and reaching more than 20,000 listeners in Season 1, I now return with deep gratitude and renewed enthusiasm!<