The project
A challenge team was set up that I was asked to lead. We wanted to enable as many people as possible to take part - no-one was to feel excluded. Accordingly, the project took the following shape:
- Refurbish and fit out a computer centre and English language school in Azerbaijan
- Fit out a computer centre in a city centre school in Birmingham
- Climb a mountain, Babadag, in Azerbaijan
- Climb another mountain, Snowdon, in the UK
- Obtain sponsorship from the bank and from the bank's external suppliers
- Individuals using their imagination to raise their own sponsorship
Dubbed 'the Columbus Challenge', the project took six months. It culminated in a team of 12 people from HSBC going to Azerbaijan in November 1998. Six people spent a week refurbishing rooms in a derelict building in Mingechevier, painting and decorating, fitting it out with carpets, desks, chairs and a 16-station computer network. The others, including me, set off to climb Babadag, a 12,000ft mountain in the Caucasus range.
The achievements
We raised funds and equipment to a total value of approximately GBP 140,000, engaging in multiple sponsored fund-raising activities. Activities included sponsored mountain climbing (Snowdon in Wales and Babadag in Azerbaijan), swimming, walking, a 'samosa eating' competition, cake sales and car boot sales. One particularly hirsute chap even volunteered for a full body wax - on agreeing to do it for £350, he got the sponsorship in 20 minutes! About half of the entire 1,500 workforce took part, in one form or another. With a colleague, I was even interviewed on BBC Radio West Midlands!
