Sir Rod Aldridge has a CV that would be the envy of most businesspeople.

After a public sector career which saw him work for local authorities across Sussex, he founded Capita.

The outsourcing giant is now a household giant, but it was under Sir Rod’s watch that it become a FTSE 100 company employing 27,000 people with profits increasing each year to almost £200 million.

Yet throughout his distinguished career the Brighton born businessman was haunted by the memory of his own failures.

The son of a factory worker, he went to Portslade county school for boys.

Having failed his 11-plus and leaving school with only a handful of O-levels, he left the education system feeling with sense of inferiority.

And it was this lingering disappointment that inspired him to return to his hometown and give youngsters the opportunities he felt he missed out on.

It has not been easy, with the academies set up with the backing of his Trust, BACA and PACA, both enduring growing pains and weathering political turmoil.

But he has stayed the course and maintained a steely determined to try and bridge the social divide.

His philanthropy speaks for itself – and he is a former chair of V, a charity which aims to inspire over 1 million new youth volunteers, a patron and former trustee of The Prince's Trust and was Chaired the government’s 'Dance Champions Group', aiming to encourage 100,000 more adults to take up dance.

Seeing sport as a means of social mobility, his latest venture is a cricket academy which is another attempt to give disadvantaged youngsters the same opportunities afforded to private schoolchildren.

It is Sir Rod's refusal to take no for answer - and his own personal wealth - which have helped turn this £1.8 million facility into a reality, with the hope of unearthing the next James Anderson.

In this endeavour we give Sir Rod out wholehearted support.