Aug 2012
Fundraising businesses enter the Dragons' Den
Six local companies bravely pitched their
best fundraising ideas to a ‘Dragons' Den’ panel of judges from the
Northern Ireland business community, aiming to raise funds for The
Prince’s Trust Million Makers challenge.
Million
Makers challenges teams of employees with converting a £1,500
investment into a fundraising profit of £10,000 over a six month
period. It provides the opportunity for employees to develop many
transferable skills such as leadership, motivation and decision
making while raising funds for The Trusts work in Northern
Ireland.
Northern Ireland companies participating in this year’s
competition are Armstrong Medical Ltd, BTWShiells, Cavanagh Kelly,
Cunningham Coates Stockbrokers, Harbinson Mulholland and Parker
Green International. Teams will compete against each other to run
the most profitable enterprise and the winner will be the team
whose project has generated the most profit.
The ‘Dragons’ who put the teams’ fundraising initiatives to the
test were Simon Smith, BNI Northern Ireland, David Watters, RSM
McClure Watters, Philip Bain, ShredBank and Diana Fitzsimons,
Turley Associates. Million Makers ‘Dragon’ Simon Smith from BNI
Northern Ireland was impressed by the calibre of ideas presented to
the judging panel:
The teams have taken this challenge very
seriously and presented us with well thought out plans, targeted
market research and some tremendous income generating ideas.
"We judges might not have been issuing piles of our own money,
but we were mindful that we were acting on behalf of The Prince’s
Trust with their seed money, and we were looking to provide the
best return for the Trust to carry out its valuable work with young
people in Northern Ireland."
Ian Jeffers, Director of The Prince’s Trust in Northern Ireland,
has seen the commitment that the Million Makers teams have put into
their fundraising plans and knows just how tough the competition
can be, with a collective total of £130,000 raised last year:
“Last year the benchmark was raised significantly with the
Northern Ireland teams raising the most of any region in the UK. I
know all of the teams in this year’s challenge are equally hungry
for success and have put a great deal of effort into planning their
initiatives over the next six months.”