Over £120,000 donated by Snapchat Director and John Mac Trust

Snapchat Director Victor Shaburov and his wife Elena have donated £65,000 to the GHA Covid-19 fund, with the John Mackintosh Trust making a separate donation of £60,000.

Mr Shaburov created the famous face filters for the social media platform Snapchat and has recently made Gibraltar his home.

He told the Chronicle he wanted to contribute to the fight against Covid-19 that Gibraltar and its community now faces.

Mr Shaburov recognised people are “afraid” of the virus, which has caused problems across the globe and felt his contribution would help during these difficult times.

He chose to settle in Gibraltar due to the location, warm weather and as it’s English speaking.

Like many in Gibraltar, he is currently working for Snapchat from home.

Mr Shaburov began working for Snapchat when the company acquired his star-up business called Looksery, an app dedicated to face filters.

Since then he has worked on innovative technology of face filters and face tracking, with Snapchat now working on ‘Camoes’ - short videos where a persons face is added to a funny video.

Gibraltar Government thanked Mr and Mrs Shaburov for their kind donation of £65,000 to the Gibraltar Health Authority account for the fight against Covid-19.

“I am extremely grateful to Mr and Mrs Shaburov for their generous donation to the GHA, in the fight against Covid-19. I am glad that they have made Gibraltar their home and have wanted to make this contribution to the community,” said Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.

The Board of Governors of the John Mackintosh Trust, a charity whose funds are primarily used for projects to help the elderly in Gibraltar, also recently donated the sum of £60,000 to the GHA’s Covid-19 fund.

The members of the Board are the Governor of Gibraltar Nick Pyle, Bishop of Gibraltar Carmel Zammit, Chief Secretary, Darren Grech, and the President of the Jewish Community of Gibraltar, James Levy.

The Board of Governors said they hope this amount will go some way towards assisting the GHA in its continuing efforts to combat Covid-19.  

They also thanked Gibraltar Government, the GHA, and in particular its frontline staff, for everything that they are doing during this “current unprecedented situation.”