Strathclyde Business School was delighted to welcome former World Champion and Olympic silver medallist, Steve Cram, and Jim Paton, Chief Executive of Panton McLeod Ltd, co-founders of COCO, to launch their new Schools for Life initiative this month.
Introduced by Professor John Anderson from the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Steve and Jim gave a compelling talk about the great work the charity undertakes. COCO, an international children’s charity, is working with local communities in remote regions of the developing world to alleviate poverty. Their vision is to ensure that all children they work with have access to education and the opportunity to fulfil their potential.
The Schools for Life initiative is a new programme incorporating all they have learned from their partners over the last ten years to deliver multiple solutions to poverty alleviation and benefit more children living in Africa. There are six key pillars to the Schools for Life approach to a child’s education - shelter, power, water, food, recreation and entrepreneurship.
Professor John Anderson says, “It was great to hear about the valuable work that Steve, Jim and the COCO team are involved in. We all know how important education is for lifting people out of poverty but COCO has learned from experience that education in itself is not enough. Through the Schools for Life initiative they help children receive an education in a safe, healthy and supportive environment and encourage them to believe in their own creative ideas. It’s these ideas that they then nurture and grow in to small entrepreneurial businesses which helps them earn a living. One great example was of a young woman who, after completing her education, was given a small business loan of £20 from COCO and who now owns her own restaurant. Without the support and opportunities from COCO, this would never have happened.
“At the Hunter Centre we are part of a UK wide research project into the effectiveness of philanthropy and charitable giving and our experience is that by adding entrepreneurial spirit and mindset to philanthropy you can make a significant and sustainable difference to people’s lives. COCO is a perfect of example of this and that is why we were delighted to host the launch of Schools for Life here on campus and look forward to welcoming them back in the future”.