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Edinburgh Teams Help Raise Over £150,000 for Children 1st in Dragons’ Glen

Posted: 27th April 2016

Teams from Skyscanner, University of Edinburgh and Larbert Academy took on the heat of Dragons’ Glen, raising £9,437.93 for Children 1st, Scotland’s National Children’s Charity.

Dragons Glen raises £150K for Children 1st Charity

Dragons’ Glen is Scotland’s entrepreneurial challenge for businesses. The teams were mentored by our Dragons, foremost Scottish business leaders, including: Robert Gibson of Clydesdale Bank, Jennifer McGachie of People’s Postcode Lottery and Andy Lothian of Insights. 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 5 months.

This year, £150,703.14 was raised in total and the challenge culminated with the Awards Ceremony on 20th April at the Playfair Library, Edinburgh. Scottish entrepreneur and philanthropist Josh Littlejohn of innovative business Social Bite was the special guest speaker and handed out the awards.

A team of employees from Aberdeen’s Simmons & Co won the competition by raising an unprecedented £31,179.87. Their cookbook, A Taste of Aberdeen, featured recipes from renowned local chefs and restaurants and was an instant success. Other award winners include: Runner Up – Entier, Most Future Promise – Skyscanner, Most Innovative – Gordonstoun and Special Commendation – Aberdeen Asset Management.

Dragons’ Glen is a unique opportunity for companies to engage employees and support them to develop a range of skills. 92% of participants report an improvement in communication and 95% an improvement in entrepreneurship.

Collete MacLeod, Graduate Programme Manager, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), said: “Dragons’ Glen gives our graduates an opportunity to put learned commercial and personal skills into practice through entrepreneurship.”

Dragons’ Glen raises vital funds which go towards supporting the work of Children 1st across Scotland. Children 1st provides practical advice and support to families in tough times and, when the worst happens, supports the survivors of abuse, neglect and other traumatic events in childhood to recover.

Barbara Kidd, Director of Fundraising for Children 1st said: “The amount raised by Dragons’ Glen is phenomenal – enough to provide 6 months of support for 250 children and families who need help to overcome abuse or make homes safer for children. We could not do this work without our corporate partners.”

Since its launch in 2012, Dragons’ Glen has raised over £280,000. It continues to grow in popularity and now takes part in 5 cities across Scotland: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. Children 1st is now accepting entries for the 2016-17 challenge, which starts in September.

To find out more about Dragons’ Glen, please visit www.children1st.org.uk/dragons-glen

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