Bartra Wealth Advisors

About Bartra Wealth Advisors

Bartra Wealth Advisors is a subsidiary company within the Bartra Group. As the immigration of Ireland's most successful real estate developer Bartra, Bartra Wealth Advisors provides investors direct access to high-quality Nursing Home and Social Housing projects as the preferred investment options designated by the Irish government for the Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP). With a well-established business, extensive Irish immigration experience, expertise in real estate investments, professional landing teams, and strong business network support, Bartra Group has helped hundreds of families successfully immigrate to Ireland.

Since 2017, Bartra has chosen Shanghai Sunrise as its local office's charity partner. To date, Bartra has donated more than half a million RMB enabling 32 students to pursue their dreams of completing high school education, with some even advancing to university.

Shanghai Sunrise recently had the pleasure to interview James Hartshorn, CEO & Co-founder of Bartra Wealth Advisors.

Why did you decide to become a SHSR sponsor?

Mainly because Shanghai Sunrise focuses on children's education. When I was younger, I worked with education-based charities for schools and orphanages in Cambodia and Tanzania. This experience opened my eyes to the level of poverty in which some of these kids lived. The gap between where I grew up, where education is free, and where they grew up creates some level of responsibility to give back. I really liked what your charity was doing and found your work remarkable, which is providing access to education to underprivileged kids.

How important is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to your business and how can sponsoring SHSR students help you achieve your goals?

CSR should be at the forefront for every company. For us, we have funded different charities at home (in Ireland) and given substantial funds to hospitals and home charities. We are a very socially concerned and socially aware company. Our CSR goal here is to give back domestically. Our business has been here for 6 years and I personally have been here for 10 years. China has been very good to me and a good place to develop. I have had a lot of amazing experiences here and again, it is important to give back. One good way to do that is to provide education opportunities to people who don't have them.

Tell us about your experience at SHSR events?

The biggest event was a St. Patrick's Day event when we partnered with Shanghai Sunrise back in March 2021. That was a significant single event given it was the highest amount of funds we have ever raised for your cause. That was awesome. In addition, we regularly attend Shanghai Sunrise events where we actually meet some of the students we are sponsoring. These occasions are amazing as we are able the put a face to the name, to see who they are, and hear their stories. It is quite inspiring as well to see how your team interacts with the kids. We had a table there and it was impressive to see how you coordinated the games and activities with the kids and sponsors. You can see everyone is grateful for what you have done.

What advice would you give to businesses who are considering sponsoring a student through SHSR?

It has been very rewarding for us, and for me personally, to see the progression of these kids' development. Basically, you're taking people from a poor situation with limited opportunities, and you're providing them access to education with your sponsorship. To see these kids complete their high school education and go on to university is so rewarding. It's important for foreign companies to be mindful that we are visitors in this country and we must respect where we are. We should be grateful gusts, and we should give back to the part of our company that is in need. I definitely encourage other businesses to do the same.

About Shanghai Sunrise

Shanghai Sunrise is a volunteer-led, non-profit organization committed to creating access to education through scholarships for underprivileged Shanghai youth. Since 1996, we have raised over 34 million RMB for high school and university scholarships. This has enabled 3,200 students, who otherwise would not have had the financial means, to continue their education and have a chance at a brighter future. With your help, we can continue to make a difference in our community!