Charity Leaders of Tomorrow!

On Thursday 14 July 2016 volunteers from our corporate members visited Oaklands Secondary School in Bethnal Green as part of our embedded project, Beyond Boundary, to support students with their Enterprise Day.

Beyond Boundary, delivered by the East London Business Alliance (ELBA), is principally funded by Nomura and State Street. It focusses on working alongside community organisations and young people in the Bethnal Green area to encourage regeneration and to develop the skill sets of local young people. The project began in November 2012 and since then has seen more than 1000 employees from the two companies volunteer their time to over 20 community organisations in the local area.

The day saw 240 students creating a charitable campaign, which they were asked to pitch for by the end of the day to receive funding from the Dragons. Campaign ideas included a charity car wash, tech repair services through to personalised post cards. A volunteer on the day said, ‘I was extremely surprised by the passion, commitment and professionalism the students showed throughout the whole day as much as the development of skills the students displayed’.

120 students also participated in our Skills to Succeed (S2S) programme. The Skills to Succeed Academy is an interactive employability training programme developed by Accenture in partnership with ELBA. It has been designed to support job seekers from the earliest stages of researching and exploring career options, through to gaining sustained employment, and planning career development. A student who participated in our S2S programme said, ‘I enjoyed taking part in the programme because it was fun and interactive and gave me a lot to think about for later in life’.