Posted by John King on July 26, 2011 under News | 
Lucy Caslon, a Royal Holloway alumna and founder of Msizi Africa, writes:
“Most of you will know a famine has been declared in Somalia. 3.5 million people risk starving to death (many are children). Islamists who control most of Somalia have banned the World Food Programme from working there. As a result, tens of thousands of Somalis are fleeing to Kenya to find food. They walk for weeks to reach the Dadaab refugee camp but often in vain – children arrive so weak they have less than a 40% chance of survival. We’ve all seen disturbing images of starving children for years and now most recently coming out of Dadaab – these children are a long way from our healthy, happy children in South Africa and Lesotho.
“When children arrive in Dadaab they are given Plumpy Nut, a peanut based food for use in famine relief, formulated by a paediatric nutritionist. I am liaising with Save the Children who source food from a UNICEF cleared supplier in Nairobi. I am going to buy Plumpy Nut from this supplier DIRECTLY and Save the Children will drive it straight to Dadaab and distribute it. Whilst we must safeguard funds for our own children, we have a responsibility to help others when the disaster is on such a huge scale. Depending on the child’s level of need, it costs in the region of £2 to give a child the Plumpy Nut they need each day.
“We’re donating £1,330 to buy Plumpy Nut for 50 children for 2 weeks – the same number of children in our orphanage. You now have a chance to donate DIRECTLY to this crisis in the knowledge that 100% of your donation will be spent on Plumpy Nut which will be driven into Dadaab and given to the neediest children immediately. There are NO admin costs so this is your best way to donate if you haven’t done already. We will keep our appeal open until Sunday 31st July and submit an order based on our donation and yours on Monday 1st August. Next week we will contact donors to tell you know how much Plumpy Nut we ordered collectively and when it has been delivered.
“Join us and donate at – www.bmycharity.com/eastafricacrisis – let’s all try and help!”
Posted by John King on January 21, 2011 under Podcasts |
Kelvin is the CEO and founder of FoodCycle. Before starting FoodCycle, he worked for the award winning social enterprise, MyBnk which develops young people’s financial and enterprise literacy.
FoodCycle combines young volunteers, surplus food and a free kitchen space to create nutritious meals and positive social change in the community. Food retailers throw out millions of tons of edible food every year due to supply overstock. The aim of FoodCycle is to redirect this food so it can be used to cook nutritious meals for people in the local community that do not have access to healthy foods for a variety of reasons, such as lack of income or knowledge of healthy nutrition.
This podcast is from the Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs Get Inspired! event on 20th January 2011.
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Posted by John King on January 5, 2011 under People |
Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs’ founding patron, Professor Alec Reed CBE, was made a Knight Bachelor by the Queen in her New Years Honours.
Sir Alec (as we will be affectionately calling him) received the prestigious honour for his services to business and charity. He founded The Big Give, an online donations site supporting 7,681 charities, in October 2007 to help proactive philanthropists donate intelligently. A generous philanthropist and entrepreneur, Sir Alec previously founded the Reed Foundation which funds The Big Give, making it free to all users.
Sir Alec is also the Founder of Reed Specialist Recruitment, one of the largest recruitment solution providers in the country with over 400 branches and reed.co.uk, Europe’s largest commercial job website.
Sir Alec will return the Royal Holloway on 17th March 2011 to speak at our Get Inspired event. If you’d like to meet him (he is very friendly) then just come to our event which begins at 6pm!
Well done Sir!
Posted by John King on under Social Enterprise |
Funding Central is a free website for charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. The site provides access to thousands of funding and finance opportunities, plus a wealth of tools and resources supporting organisations to develop sustainable income strategies appropriate to their needs.
If you are completely or relatively new to fundraising, Funding Central provides a guided search enabling you to identify the most appropriate funding and finance opportunities that best suit you and the beneficiaries that you support.
Posted by John King on November 12, 2010 under Podcasts |
In 2006 Lucy Caslon, a Royal Holloway alumna, travelled through East, Central and Southern Africa before spending four months with AIDS orphans in Lesotho. She got to know and love the children and worried about returning home and leaving them in need of nutritious food and better living facilities. On returning to London, she founded Mants’ase Children’s Home UK which later evolved into Msizi Africa.
In this podcast Lucy tells us how and why she set up this amazing charity.
Find out how you can help Msizi Africa.
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Posted by John King on October 29, 2010 under Podcasts |
Charlie Wardle is the Founder and General Manager of Climb Your Mountain. He is a qualfied Chartered Accountant, has an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, is qualified in Marketing and has over 12 years business and commercial experience at a senior level.
Here is a recording of him talking at our Get Inspired! event on 28 October 2010.
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Posted by John King on September 14, 2009 under Competitions, Social Enterprise |
The Big Challenge 09 team is looking for original campaign ideas that will have a big impact. This is your chance to make a difference and walk away with a share of £60,000 for your social enterprise or charity. This year’s theme is
“Many cultures, many individuals, how can you create unity in your community?”
Anybody aged 16-25 and living in the UK can apply so for your chance to win the funding to make your project happen, visit the Big Challenge 2009 website. You must apply by midday on 28th September 2009.
