Nomura’s support at Weavers continues
ELBA has pulled off another successful summer scheme with Nomura volunteers at Weavers Adventure Playground. Weavers is a busy adventure playground open to children and young people from Bethnal Green and beyond. The playground provides an exciting environment for children and young people to play, learn, grow and develop. The organisation falls on the patch of the Beyond Boundary Project which was set up in 2012 by ELBA and the project’s main supporters, The Nomura Charitable Trust and State Street. The overriding objective of the Beyond Boundary Project is to enhance the employment chances and access to opportunities of disadvantaged young people living in the area, and to build the capacity of the organisations that are supporting them.
ELBA arranged two employability workshops for the children at the playground over a period of five weeks during this year’s summer holiday. A total of 13 finance volunteers from Nomura participated, including their Chief Finance Officer (CFO) John Tierny. The workshops consisted of young people from 12-16 years. The workshops were designed by the ELBA facilitators with the help of Nomura’s Finance divisional champions. The workshops covered team building, basic banking, branding and presentation skills. One young person who attended the team building workshop said, “I never understood the different roles there are in a team until now. It was a fun and interesting way to learn about the importance of every team member.”
Nomura’s CFO attended the last workshop on branding and presentation skills. Young people were asked to create, market and then present a drink in their teams. In a format similar to TV’s Dragons Den, the three teams then presented to John Tierny and feedback was given with a winner announced. One of the Nomura volunteers said, “We were all impressed with their energy, ideas and enthusiasm for the task!” This is the third consecutive summer volunteers from Nomura have participated in supporting young people from Weavers Adventure Playground with another two dates scheduled to participate in team challenges in local Beyond Boundary organisations.
If you would like to share your skills with community organisations, or have volunteering opportunities and would like support from business volunteers, please contact shadique.gani@elba-1.org.uk for more information.
