Teams from Edinburgh organisations including EY, Larbert High School and University of Edinburgh Business School took on the heat of Dragons’ Glen, raising £16,026 in 2016/17 and supporting Children 1st, Scotland’s National Children’s Charity. Tthe competition has now raised £358,378 in five years.
Dragons’ Glen is Scotland’s entrepreneurial challenge for businesses. The teams were mentored by our Dragons, foremost Scottish business leaders, including: Rob Letham, Finance Director of People’s Postcode Lottery, Catherine Simpson, Head of Operations for Scottish Equity Partners, and Robert Gibson, Head of Customer Banking for Clydesdale Bank. Their challenge: create a product and establish a business using £500 seed funding from Children 1st. The goal: generate the most profit for the charity as possible in just five months.
This year, Dragons’ Glen culminated with the Awards Ceremony on 27 April at Trinity Hall, Aberdeen. Bob Keiller, renowned Scottish entrepreneur and Chairman of Scottish Enterprise, was the guest speaker. Maureen Watt, MSP and Minister of Mental Health, also attended and addressed the audience.
A team of employees from SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) won the competition by raising £11,774.94. Their storybook, Keeping the Lights On, teaches children about power generation and highlights STEM learning. Other award winners include: Runner Up – RSM and Most Future Promise – EY.
Also the University of Edinburgh Business School won Most Innovative for the extraordinary Edinburgh in Colour adult colouring book. To involve more young adults/professionals, the team engaged artists at Edinburgh School of Art to develop content for the book. They were also clever in deciding to host a launch event and art auction, using University contacts and raising over £2k on that night alone. Overall, the team raised £5,013.
Children 1st Board Chair, Ken Cunningham, also honoured businesses that had raised more than £25,000 over five years of the competition. These include: Thorntons Law (£27,000), Simmons & Co (£31,180), Wood Group (£54,487) and SSE (£60,073).
Dragons’ Glen is a unique opportunity for companies to engage employees and support them to develop a range of skills. 100% of participants report an improvement in entrepreneurship and project management.
Burness Paull participant Grant McGregor said: “I felt that taking part in the challenge helped me to improve and strengthen my leadership abilities, communication skills and ability to work as part of a team.”
Dragons’ Glen raises vital funds which go towards supporting the work of Children 1st across Scotland. Children 1st supports families to protect children from abuse and neglect, as well as to help the survivors of abuse and other traumatic events to recover.
Barbara Kidd, Director of Fundraising for Children 1st said: “The total raised by Dragons’ Glen since 2012 is phenomenal and has helped improve the lives of over 10,000 children, young people, parents and carers for each of these five years. We could not do our work without this support.”
The competition continues to grow in popularity and takes part in five cities across Scotland: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. Children 1st is now accepting entries for the 2017-18 challenge, which starts in September.
To find out more about Dragons’ Glen, please visit www.children1st.org.uk/dragons-glen
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