King Charles celebrated the contributions of the Indian diaspora at a special event in London to mark the 20th anniversary of a charity he founded to combat poverty in South Asia.As the Royal Founding Patron of British Asian Trust, the 77-year-old monarch joined hundreds of celebrity guests to spotlight the impact the charity made through its support of more than 18.8 million people across the region.The gala evening earlier this week also helped raise more than 1 million pounds towards the charity’s many causes spread across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.“We are grateful for the continued interest our Royal Founding Patron, His Majesty the King, takes in the Trust’s work,” said Hitan Mehta, the CEO of British Asian Trust.“His deep and longstanding support for the British Asian Trust is a source of inspiration for our ambitions,” said Mehta, awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the British Asian community by the king two years ago.“We also celebrate the extraordinary impact being delivered across South Asia, made possible by the commitment and generosity of the British Asian diaspora and our wider partners,” he added.The British Asian Trust was created under the royal patronage of Charles, then Prince of Wales, after an India-Pakistan charity cricket event in 2007 as a diaspora-led international development organisation to deliver high-quality programmes in South Asia.The king was presented with a framed photograph from that match, featuring the royal in conversation with both team captains — Rahul Dravid and Shoaib Malik.“This year marks a particularly special milestone as we begin celebrating the Trust’s 20th anniversary… and the work is far from complete,” said Lord Jitesh Gadhia, chair of the British Asian Trust.The charity specialises in and champions the use of social finance products to deliver development initiatives in South Asia.Its annual fundraiser is designed to help raise funds to support the Trust’s work in the fields of child protection, education, livelihoods, mental health and conservation.Among recent highlights shared at the event were the launch of a USD 4 million Nano Entrepreneurship Sustainability and Transformation (NEST) Outcomes Facility as India’s first outcomes-based finance initiative targeting ambitious income growth for nano entrepreneurs.Pakistan’s first outcomes-based financing programme for employment in the region and a reduction of human-wildlife conflict by 98 per cent in its project areas across South Asia were among the other key updates flagged from the past few years.The event brought together several British artists of South Asian heritage, including Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Mahira Khan, Kunal Nayyar, Preeya Kalidas and Gurinder Chadha.A performance by popular international recording artist Jay Sean and a film capturing the origins of the British Asian Trust were also on the agenda as guests raised toasts to the charity’s future success.