Former Island resident Audette Exel, who started the Adara Group (formerly the ISIS Group) in Bermuda 17 years ago, has started a new initiative to give investment bankers the opportunity of using their business skills to help people living in poverty.

Ms Exel’s new company Adara Partners (Australia) has support from senior leaders in the Australian financial services industry.

Ms Exel said: “Adara Partners represents a major new initiative for the financial services and non-profit sectors.

“I am absolutely delighted to be working with such an incredible group of leaders from the sector to showcase how investment banking skills can change the lives of people in need.”

Adara Partners’ panel members will offer “wise counsel”, strategic advice, second opinion and mediation services, and they will work pro-bono for Adara Partners. All the company’s profits will be donated to Adara Development, directly benefiting women and children in need, the company said in a statement.

“It is the next step in the journey of Adara, which we began all those years ago in Bermuda, and the next step for investment banking,” said Ms Exel said.

“We have spent years trying to bridge the worlds of the banking sector and the non-profit sector. The Adara panel takes that to a whole new level and opens opportunities for the very best in the sector to use their skills to help people in need.”

Since it was set up, the Adara Group had helped many people living in poverty, particularly in Uganda and Nepal.