The event marks the beginning of Founders4Schools’ call for 1,000 Scottish business leaders to give one hour of their time, in schools, to inspire students with real world examples of career paths.
Sir Tom Hunter gave 10 students the chance to dine with the 44th President of the United States via a competition to write an essay on how they would change Scotland. In the invitation to students Sir Tom asked, "What would you change, why would you change it and how? Think you could run the country? Tell us how you'd do it and your school could win a table at a dinner with Barack Obama."
The competition was set-up by The Hunter Foundation in partnership with Skills Development Scotland and Founders4Schools, a high growth charity connecting students with local business leaders to close the skills gap and increase youth employability.
Earlier this year The Hunter Foundation invited Founders4Schools to introduce their free services to Scotland so that young people could benefit from meeting business leaders from local small and medium sized companies. The charity were met with overwhelming support from the Scottish community and gladly accepted.
Sherry Coutu CBE, angel investor, philanthropist and Founder and Chairman of Founders4Schools, said, “There is an urgent need to close the skills gap that threatens the growth of the Scottish economy. Students are leaving school without the skills required by employers in a rapidly changing world. Research proves that students with 4 employer encounters are 86% less likely to become NEET (not in employment, education or training). So we are calling upon 1,000 Scottish business leaders to volunteer one hour of their time to boost youth employability.”
Business leaders can sign up to the Founders4Schools platform for free here to give one hour to inspire students at a local school.
About Founders4Schools
Founders4Schools is an award-winning charity with a free online service enabling educators to invite local business leaders into the classroom to inspire students about the world of work. To date they have reached 80,000 students across the UK with impactful events such as career talks, group mentoring and workplace visits.
Press contact
Joe McRoberts, Head of Marketing, Founders4Schools
+44(0)7947 194 542