One of my most rewarding takeouts of nearly 40 years in travel retail (an anniversary I will celebrate alongside 25 years of The Moodie Report – now The Moodie Davitt Report – in 2027) is having introduced Smile Train to travel retail.
It is a relationship between a non-governmental organisation and a business sector that over two decades has, incredibly, seen more than US$3 million raised (enough for at least 12,000 surgeries) for the cleft charity along with priceless visibility.
The year was 2007 and the occasion our first Charity Ball, held at the Regal Hotel, adjacent to Hong Kong International Airport.
I had pondered long and hard about which charitable cause to choose but was particularly struck by a series of online advertisements I saw from Smile Train.
As a father of four, I was moved by the transformative impact cleft surgery could have on a child (in fact a patient of any age).
I also liked the simplicity of the messaging (‘Changing the world, one smile at a time’); their financial model (approximately US$250 for a surgery; free treatment and aftercare; donations forwarded directly to programmes, with administrative and fundraising costs covered by independent donors); and transparency.
The ‘before and after’ photos were simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming. The startling revelation that cleft surgery (at least of the lip) was relatively straightforward, especially if performed on a child before their teeth had formed, pretty much made up my mind.
What’s more, this life-changing procedure usually took as little as 45 minutes to complete.
And I really admired their ‘teach a man to fish’ principle – i.e. unlike mission-trip-based cleft organisations whereby medical professionals fly into countries and leave, Smile Train supports local medical professionals and local hospitals. This philosophy has built up extraordinary pools of cleft expertise globally, including in third-world countries.
I duly reached out to Smile Train Co-Founder and President Brian Mullaney, a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist, and told him about my plans. Impressed and intrigued by my description of travel retail’s global reach, visibility and its community’s renowned generosity, he flew to London to meet me.
Smile Train Co-Founder (and former President) Brian Mullaney. Since 1990, he has created some of the world’s biggest surgical charities, including Smile Train, Operation Smile NY, WonderWork, BurnRescue, FirstStep, 20-20-20 and, since late 2017 Force For Good. His million miles of travel have taken him to refugee camps in Somalia, leper colonies in Uganda, cave homes in Inner Mongolia, the war-torn streets of Afghanistan and Gaza, and hundreds of slums in India, China, Africa, South America and Asia. Read his incredible life story here.
I might have slightly overegged our company’s stature, for when Brian, an ebullient, gregarious fellow, arrived at our ‘Global Headquarters’ – a poky, cluttered, rent by the quarter, serviced office in West London with five staff – I could tell he had been expecting something more Manhatten-esque than omelette-esque.
This was a man, after all, expert in convincing some of the highest-profile business names in the USA to support the cause he cared about so much.
Nonetheless, as he squeezed into a chair alongside me while I showed him our website, Brian set about in an almost evangelical way to describe Smile Train’s mission, philsophy, track record and ambitions.
I learned that in 1982, he had met and shaken the hand of Mother Teresa at Harvard Commencement. In her speech, she urged the audience to “Go find your own Calcutta!”. Fifteen years later, he did. Smile Train (then The Smile Train) was born.
And so was what would become a two-decade relationship between Smile Train and travel retail.
In the same year we named Smile Train our official charity, creating an inseparable bond with the organisation that lasts to this day. Brian dubbed me his ‘rainmaker’, a term which reflected the incredible generosity of the travel retail community.
{Note: After I published this Blog on 15 May, I received the following note on LinkedIn. It speaks better than I ever can to the astoundingly transformative work of Smile Train}
2007
We called that first dinner ‘Turning Tears into Smiles’, an event co-organised by The Moodie Report with German fashion house Hugo Boss (thanks to the wholehearted support of then-Head of Travel Retail Nadine Heubel).
A flashback to 2007 as then-TFWA President Erik Jul-Mortensen presents a TFWA Cares €25,000 cheque for Smile Train to Nadine Heubel and Martin MoodieNo-one who attended the evening will ever forget it, especially the brave and moving speech from Chinese teenager Wang Li, Smile Train’s first patient in China, who told a spellbound audience how her life had been transformed by the operation she had received seven years earlier. Wang Li was born with a cleft lip and palate in Jiangsu Province. Her parents’ combined earnings, equivalent to US$25 a month, were barely enough to put food on the table, let alone to pay for cleft surgery. As Wang Li grew older, she became increasingly introverted. After years of ridicule at school, she stopped attending and stayed confined to her home.Everything changed when a trash collector noticed Wang Li’s cleft lip and told her father he had read a newspaper article about a new organisation funding cleft surgeries at Nanjing Stomatology Hospital. Wang Li was duly approved for free treatment and subsequently became the first recipient of Smile Train-sponsored cleft repair surgery in China. Above she displays the profoundly transformative effect Smile Train cleft surgery had on her.After the surgery, Wang Li re-enrolled in school — the strange looks from others disappeared and her confidence grew. “When I looked into the mirror, I saw a different person looking back at me — a smiling person. I think that was the first time I ever smiled,” she recalled.After she finished school, Wang Li found love and got married. Just like her parents, the couple worked together every day in a local factory.In November 2013, Wang Li gave birth to a son, Wang Xiao Yu. She told Smile Train, “It’s your kindness and love that allowed me the chance to have such a happy family. I believe if everyone could contribute a piece of love, Smile Train could bring smiles to everywhere in the world.”
The travel retail community showed its enormous collective generosity at the Hong Kong fund-raising dinner. Auctioneer extraordinaire, GTR Sales Founder David Spillane (above right), a fantastic supporter of Smile Train down the years, was the perfect man to unleash it.
Astoundingly, the dinner raised almost US$350,000, an amount that would soar over ensuing travel retail-led Smile Train events, some of which I feature below.
But first, and the motivation for this Blog, is news from IPPG Travel Retail CEO Phillip Nguyen of how funds raised during The Trinity Forum in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2024 have been put to purposeful use in Vietnam.
Imex Pan Pacific Group (IPPG) co-hosted that event, which saw Smile Train named the official charity and subject of a high-value auction at the Gala Dinner on 6 November.
Auctioneer Barry Geoghegan (left) and an impassioned Phillip Nguyen rouse the audience to an amazing level of engagement and generosity
Barry and Phillip are joined on stage by Travel Food Services Managing Director & CEO Varun Kapur (second left) and Smile Train Senior Vice President, Philanthropy and Ambassador Development Troy Reinhart (right). Varun successfully bid on this lovely (and beautifully named) work by cleft patient Vu Thi Anh Thu. Truly a case of Vu Thi is in the eyes of the beholder.
The auction was superbly organised by Phillip and conducted with trademark exuberance and excellence by auctioneer Barry Geoghegan, Founder of Duty Free Global.
As Phillip said: “A smile can light up a room. A smile can transform a tough situation to reassuring comfort. Being able to bring more smiles to this world is a gift we can all be part of. I am honoured to be able to bring a very heartwarming activity to The Trinity Forum 2024 and to provide a better future to families who are in need.”
The evening was a triumph with the life-changing work of Smile Train recognised through a remarkable US$118,500 being raised to support the cleft charity.
The evening was highlighted by a performance from prodigiously talented ten-year-old violinist Minh Ho, who started playing the violin at the age of three and is now a student at the acclaimed Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music
As guests discovered, Minh Ho was born with a cleft lip in 2014, the disfigurement later treated at a Smile Train partner hospital in Vietnam. His condition and the subsequent medical attention he received to correct it didn’t prevent him from pursuing an early, innate love of music.
This wonderfully talented young musician won the hearts of everyone in the room as he explained shyly but in perfect English how Smile Train had fixed his cleft and enabled him to smile – enriching a wonderful evening for all who were there.
It was an extaordinarily joyous and generous evening. So I was delighted to hear from Phillip last week when he sent me details of how part of the funds raised have already been invested at Bac Ha International General Hospital with more to follow.
Already 165 patients have been treated with more to come. But far more than 165 lives have been affected. Think of the childrens’ fathers, mothers and siblings. Think of all the friends those children will now make, of the relationships and children they will eventually have.
Bravo to all those who supported Smile Train on that warm and unforgettable Ho Chi Minh City evening.
How some of the funds raised have to date been used to meaningful purpose. Click on images to expand.
And so, I am delighted to announce the culmination of our 20-year relationship with this outstanding cause, a charity dinner themedSwanSong Smiles, to be held on the 8 May 2027, on the eve of the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference (9-13 May)
The event will simultaneously celebrate several landmarks – the 20th anniversary of our (and travel retail’s) relationship with Smile Train; The Moodie Davitt Report’s 25th anniversary; my 40th year in the channel; and the duty-free industry’s 80th anniversary.
Wow, what a joyous, joint celebration it promises to be.
I plan the night to be big, bold, brilliant and – most of all – a blockbuster fundraiser for Smile Train, our brothers and sisters in arms all these years. Please pencil in the date now. ✈
TRAVEL RETAIL & SMILE TRAIN HIGHLIGHTS DOWN THE YEARS
There have been many wonderful Smile Train stops along the way. Here are just a few (well, actually a whole lot) of them.
2007
John McDonnell, then Chief Operating Officer of The Patrón Spirits Company and now Executive Chairman of the Board at Boston-based Ghost Tequila, has been an enduring and hugely generous supporter of Smile Train from day 1. Whenever I asked John for support, the answer was both immediate and positive. I will never forget the 10km Miles for Smiles run in 2009 (see below) when he passed me as I was clearly distressed (for reasons that would become obvious later) near the 9km mark, stopped and offered to help me to the finishing line. I waved him on but the memory endures.
2008
I visited the Smile Train unit in Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, India in July 2007 and met little Anji (above). He was a lovely wee boy with deep brown eyes, a smile as wide as Hyderabad (especially when I suggested he would one day play cricket for India) and a serious cleft lip, who was about to be operated on. Click hereto read my post from when I returned a year later to see what happened.These before and (just) after shots of Anji illustrate the life-changing impact of skilled cleft surgeryA few months on and Anji has not only a fine smile (his teeth would be fixed later) but also an impeccable batting stanceAnji and his mother with Dr Mukunda Reddy and me just before the young boy’s surgery in August 2008
That visit inspired me to write a poem during my flight back to London. I am a journalist not a poet so I make no claims to its literary quality. But it summed up how Nizam’s, The Smile Train and Dr Mukunda Reddy, Head of the Cleft Unit at Nizam’s made me feel. Here is an excerpt from The Strength of Love.
This quiet man, who walks among you
With healing hands of wonder
Soon your turn will come my son
Your long wait cast asunder
– For he is the strength of love
We walk this ward, this place of hope That takes away the pain That brings reward to all who wait And who ride The Smile Train – For they are the strength of love
So little Anji, be happy now May your life start off anew May you dream the dreams that you deserve May your smile never leave you – For you are the strength of love
In November 2008, Miles for Smiles, a 5/10km travel retail walk/run in Dubai on behalf of Smile Train was born. Not only did it raise an astonishing sum for the charity, it offered up life-long memories.Former Global President, Travel Retail and Retail Development for The Estée Lauder Companies Olivier Bottrie (second right) was the winner of the inaugural Miles for Smiles run in 2008. He is flanked by (from left) the brilliant co-organisers Rowena Holland of Essentials Communications and Mandy Sime (The Moodie Davitt Report) plus John Sutcliffe, Managing Director of Aer Rianta International-Middle East, the event’s Gold Sponsor.Olivier Bottrie strides out in styleMiles for Smiles 2008 attracted entrants from all around the world, including one from Rovaniemi, Finland, whose representative Santa Claus (aka well-known travel retail sector executive Michael Barrett) bravely donned full Christmas garb to complete the 10km in typically balmy Dubai weather. Trailing behind (not far, mind you) is filmmaker Peter Marshall, Founder of TRunblocked), grabbing some slow motion coverage.
I was determined to beat my age at the time (52), so was delighted to finish in 49 minutes 36 seconds. But the beetroot complexion speaks to the effort involved. I vowed to be quicker as well as older the following year.Tarzan and Jane one year (2008), a Centurion and his wife a year later, the late and much-missed Bruce McGuire and wife Jill brought their trademark irrepressible spirit to Miles for SmilesWhile Tarzan and Jane navigated their way through the Dubai jungle (or were they Fred and Wilma Flintstone), demonstrating that leopard skin was the season’s black, Dubai Duty Free supremo Colm McLoughlin, accompanied by David Bevan, took a more leisurely approach. No-one gave Colm any stick for using a cane but plenty asked to borrow it.Father and son: John and Karl Sutcliffe showed that athleticism, like retail ability, ran in the family. Karl, at the time Muscat Duty Free Operations Manager for Aer Rianta International-Middle East, has gone on (like his Dad) to carve out a highly successful travel retail career.Intrepid organisers Mandy Sime (left) and Row Holland breezed their way to the finishing lineAlan Edwards (right), then ARI’s Senior Consultant to Qatar Duty Free, who so tragically passed in September 2012, checks his pace while Martin Moodie (left) tests his pacemaker. Hwyl fawr dear Alan, hwyl fawr, my dear Welsh friend.“Look, up in the sky! It’s a Burj… it’s a plane… it’s a Welsh Superman.”“You’re going the wrong way.” Marshalls David Spillane of GTR Sales and Sunil Tuli of King Power flag the flaggers. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.(Left) Sunil and David, mistakenly confusing the sponsor’s sign (top right) with a notice for the beer tent, break into a gentle trot, which is enough to catch up with Jonathan (Chaps) HollandFrom warm-up time (above) to the prize-giving ceremony below, the enjoyment of the occasion and its sense of purpose was clear to seeAfter all that exertion, John Sutcliffe felt in need of a lie-downGreat memories. Are they really from 19 years ago?The Trinity Forum, created by what was then The Moodie Report in 2003, has been a consistent supporter of Smile TrainAt the Airline Retail Conference (remember that) in July 2008, the initial auction, superbly conducted by Global Travel Retail Sales Owner David Spillane, raised US$24,600. Gebr Heinemann Board Member Christoph Neusser and Scorpio Distributors Managing Director Stuart McGuire then said they would double the amount (and round it off to US$50,000) if the sponsors of the various prizes were prepared to offer an identical prize again – which they did.In September 2008, Scental L’Oréal Luxury Products Travel Retail Asia Pacific teamed up with Korean Air to offer Kiehl’s for the first time onboard an airline. Korean Air was at that point the world’s most successful inflight retailer – having generated sales of over US$200 million in 2007. Kiehl’s donated US$1 to The Smile Train for each transaction during the first two months, thus helping children in over 75 countries.
2009
Then-Scorpio Distributors Managing Director Stuart McGure (now Founder and Managing Director of JNS Brand Managament) has been a perennial Smile Train supporter from the get-go, as underlined by his 2009 offer pictured aboveThe weather was glorious, the hospitality superb, the golf hugely enjoyable. But the real winners of the 2008 Gebr Heinemann – Hugo Boss Cup in Cannes on 18 October 2009 were children in emerging countries who suffer from cleft lips and palates. Each player was asked to make a donation to The Smile Train. Gebr Heinemann then generously added a top-up amount to bring the sum to €15,000, enough to fund operations on around 80 children, whose families otherwise could not afford the surgery. Co-Owners Claus (left) and Gunnar Heinemann are shown presenting me the cheque.Then-DFS Vice President, Global Creative Lynn Arce was the catalyst behind the travel retailer’s extraordinary 2009 campaign in support of Smile Train. She is pictured at the 2008 opening of DFS Galleria Macao with (from left) DFS Asia Group President Tim DeLessio; DFS President, Worldwide Store Operations Michael Schriver; Abu Dhabi Airports Company Vice President of Commercial Revenues Dan Cappell; and The Moodie Report Publisher Martin Moodie.
In July 2024, Diageo unveiled the first bottle of The John Walker, its new ultra-premium, US$3,000 blended Scotch whisky from the Johnnie Walker Blue Label family, in association with DFS at Singapore Changi Airport.
The first of only five bottles being made available before the official September launch, it was auctioned for charity, with all proceeds (matched by DFS) going to The Smile Train.
Diageo and DFS followed suit at Abu Dhabi International Airport later in the year. Pictured left to right at the launch are Abu Dhabi Airports Company Vice President of Non-Aeronautical Revenues and Business Development Dan Cappell; DFS Chairman & CEO Ed Brennan; Diageo Global Travel & Middle East Managing Director, Phil Humphreys, Abu Dhabi Airports Company Head of Retail James McLean; DFS Managing Director South East Asia and the Middle East Craig McKenna; and The Moodie Report Founder & Publisher Martin Moodie.Other leading brands, including Patrón in North America and Brown-Forman in Singapore joined forces with DFS to support Smile TrainMiles for Smile 2009 saw an extraordinary moment as the late Colm McLoughlin presented a cheque for US$1.5 million to Priscilla Ma of The Smile Train. Colm is shown with long-term colleagues George Horan and Sinead El Sibai and The Moodie Davitt Report Founder and Publisher Martin Moodie. Dubai Duty Free still supports Smile Train to this day.
(From left) A very young-looking Dermot Davitt, a very fresh-looking Mandy Sime (it was probably those Jimmy Choo running shoes) and a post-race fire engine-hued Martin Moodie celebrate another successful fundraiser. The event was once again organised with aplomb by Mandy and Rowena Holland.Some familiar faces at the start/finish line of Miles for Smiles 2009. I am flanked by Wonderful Pistachios Director of Sales Global Travel Retail James Kfouri and Jonathan Holland & Associates Founder Jonathan (Chaps) Holland, both intrigued by my choice of soundtracks to accompany the run. Naturally I led with Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. A few kilometres later was Running on Empty by Jackson Browne.Irish eyes were smiling as Karl Marnane of Butlers Chocolates took out first place ahead of then-Dubai Duty Free Vice President – Operations Sean Staunton and Wonderful Pistachios Director of Sales Global Travel Retail James Kfouri, all of whom raced as if they had been shot out of a cannon.As opposed to me, who looked as though I had just been shot. Mind you, I had run 46 minutes and 1 second – three minutes and 55 seconds faster than in 2008 – enough to win the dubious tag of ‘fastest over 50’. That feat also earned US$250 in Smile Train sponsorship from then-Aldeasa US President Rod Wiltshire, who had generously donated the same sum to the race and pledged to double it if I finished under 47 minutes.“You better go and lie down,” said a friendly marshall, handing a bottle of water to what must have looked like a giant tomato . “I am lying down,” I said, “the question is, can I get up?” I did have a good excuse, mind you. Soon after it turned out I had been running with a stomach tumour. There wouldn’t be any more running for a while.It was a case of marshall law applies as Mars International Travel Retail International Consultant Stuart Bull, GTR Sales’ David Spillane, King Power Group Hong Kong’s Sunil Tuli and Karan Tuli (now Four Pillars Gin Head of Asia) guided Jonathan (Chaps) Holland and Dermot Davitt (right in his only 007 role) towards the finishing line using the luscious ice-creams that Mars had kindly provided as edible pointersA brave Dermot nears the finish line with the crazed, dazed, fazed, glazed and hazed look of a prisoner who had stumbled into the daylight after 20 years of solitary confinementEasy rider: Given his choice of transport, Colm McLoughlin, closely accompanied as always by his wife Breeda, served as the perfect Dubai Duty Free spokesman on the dayThakshila and Manjula, a Dubai-based married couple from Sri Lanka, took to the stage to talk about how Smile Train had helped fund cleft treatment at a world-class centre in India for their young son Aaryan (pictured below)
{The extraordinarily transformative power of Smile Train was captured in Smile Pinki, a true-story film about a young Indian girl named Pinki born with a cleft lip and palate. It was awarded the Oscar for the Best Short Documentary at the annual Academy Awards in February 2009.}
The superbly proactive Women in Travel (later, Women in Travel Retail Retail+) showed their support for the cause during a memorable gathering in Cannes in October 2009The Consortium Travel Retail Club in the UK is a perennial supporter of good causes, living up to that reputation in October 2009 at its annual meeting in Eastbourne, England
2010
There was gold at the end of this rainbow, in the form of a substantial donation to Smile Train
In February 2010, travel retail’s support for Smile Train reached a new peak. Literally.
Rock group Sound Driver – accompanied by several members of the travel retail community – climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to perform the song ‘Chasing Rainbows’, specially written to honour the charity’s work.
The epic six-day expedition culminated in Sound Driver setting a world record for the ‘Highest Altitude Rock Gig/Electrical Musical Performance on Land’ on 22 February.
The Moodie Report Chief Operating Officer Bob Wilby was one of the group’s roadies, helping to carry band equipment up the mountain, in return for The Moodie Report contributing to the sponsorship of the tour.
Other travel retail industry members on the tour were Ibrahim Al Housani from Abu Dhabi Airports Company and Sound Drive band member GTR Sales Owner (and top-class guitarist) David Spillane, whose personal passion for the project was instrumental (and vocals) in the event’s notable success.
A significant sum was raised, boosted by the tremendous generosity of key sponsors Patrón Spirits International and Abu Dhabi Airports Company.
In May 2010, The Patrón Spirits Company, through the leadership of then-Chief Operating Officer John McDonnell, raised US$138,330 for Smile Train from the company’s fourth annual Invitational Charity Golf Tournament in Coral Springs. In the four years, including 2010, that Patrón had organised the tournament to that point, over US$400,000 had been raised for the cleft charity.
2011
2020/2021
Smile Train was one of the two nominated charities for the phenomenally successful Virtucal Travel Retail Expos created and hosted by The Moodie Davitt and WePurple in 2020 and 2021 as COVID-19 devastated global travel retail and compromised physical exhibitionsSmile Train attracted heavy online footfall to its immesrive stands at the two Virtual Travel Retail Expos
2023
In March 2023, I visited Philippine Band of Mercy in Manila, a wonderful Smile Train partner hospital, with APTRA President and King Power Group Hong Kong CEO Sunil Tuli (second from right), a strong supporter of Smile Train from our early days. Pictured to my left is Smile Train Philippines Program Director Felix Grimares Jr and to my right Philippine Band of Mercy Medical Director Dr Hector M. Santos Jr; and Smile Train Communications Manager for Southeast Asia Vaninna Davidon.
The Moodie Davitt ‘Smile Raising’ Charity Dinner in Singapore on 6 May 2023 raised over US$200,000 in funds and pledges for Smile Train.
“The gift of a smile.” Long time colleagues and business partners Martin Moodie (above) and (below) Dermot Davitt, welcomed guests to what proved a memorable evening of fundraising for Smile Train.
Do not even twitch a muscle when Duty Free Global Founder and eternally effervescent Barry Geoghegan is auctioneering. Thanks to Barry’s unstoppable energy and the generosity of donors and bidders, fundraising soared to incredible heights.(Above) Smile Train Senior Vice President and Regional Director, Asia Mamta Carrol with Dermot Davitt and me. Below, Dermot and I honour Gulnar Adenwalla, wife of the late Dr. Hirji S. Adenwalla, a pioneer in cleft surgeries.
Generous as always, One World Duty Free Founder & CEO Keira Zhang makes a winning bidNow this is what you call a quality quartet. Pictured right to left are youthful industry veterans Andrew Ford, Rakhita Jayawardena, Antares Cheng and the simply youthful Tina Tam
Attitude meets altitude
At that event Sunil Tuli, Group CEO of King Power Group (Hong Kong) and President of Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA), announced he would hike to Mount Everest Base Camp to raise funds for the cause. He duly delivered, raising over US$70,000.
In peak condition: Sunil Tuli was named one of The Moodie Davitt Report’s People of the Year (below) for his extraordinary commitment to Smile Train, in general, and ‘Smile Raising’ in particular. The Moodie Davitt provided daily coverage of his expedition. In September 2024 the cleft charity appointed him to its Philanthropic Advisory Board.
2024
Long-time Dubai Duty Free leader Colm McLoughlin had joined me from the start of the Smile Train Journey and built on it in his determinded and impassioned way. His passing in 2024 was a profound loss to the travel retail community and yet he still had one final gift to Smile Train as shown above.Colm and Breeda McLoughlin at Dubai Duty Free Arabian Night’s Party at Ballyliffin Golf Club, Co Donegal, Ireland during the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in July 2018 {Photo by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye}
One of my most rewarding takeouts of nearly 40 years in travel retail (an anniversary I will celebrate alongside 25 years of The Moodie Report – now The Moodie Davitt Report – in 2027) is having introduced Smile Train to travel retail.
In July 2024, Diageo unveiled the first bottle of The John Walker, its new ultra-premium, US$3,000 blended Scotch whisky from the Johnnie Walker Blue Label family, in association with DFS at Singapore Changi Airport.
