In 1998, I led a project for employees at HSBC Asset Finance (UK) Ltd, in association with the charity Children's Aid Direct (formerly Save the Children), to create a computer centre and English language school in Azerbaijan for use by young people disenfranchised by war. The project was taken on as part of a culture change programme, in response to a challenge from the company's consultants: raise £100,000 in 100 days, deliver the funds on a 4,500-mile round trip outside the UK within 76 hours, get on TV, and do it all on a budget of just £45.
We did all of that, and rather more besides:
- Created a computer centre and English language school in Azerbaijan
- Fitted out a computer centre in a city centre school in Birmingham
- Climbed mountains in Azerbaijan and the UK
- Raised £140,000
- Got a colleague and me on the radio, and the team on TV
- Talked a VERY hairy man into volunteering for a full body wax!
Read on to find out what we did and how we did it.