$20 Challenge ‘gives back much more to charity’

The Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation’s (BEF) $20 Challenge has reached a new milestone in its charity, BEF executive chair Celeste Foster said Thursday.

She reported that the 2023-2024 edition of the programme saw the most funds being donated in the initiative’s 12-year history as it prepares to put on its eighth charity event, sponsored by Scotiabank.

The charity began as an initiative to encourage our young people to give back as part of their learning in the business sense of corporate social responsibility, she said.

More than $5 000 was donated in cash and in-kind, Foster said, adding that she was pleased by the programme’s growth over the years.

She told reporters: “I’m very pleased to say that we had about 75 per cent of our participating businesses making donations, so we have 13 schools participating in the overall challenge. We have 73 students making a donation today, and those are donations in excess of $5 000 combined.

“What we are seeing is that these students are able to give back their time, their talent or their treasure. What does that mean? They volunteer their time to various organisations. We have a student business volunteering over 40 hours to a charity or [as it relates to talent], the products of their business being donated monthly for the rest of 2024. And then there’s treasure, which is looking at their profits and donating a percentage of those profits to charities. We have 42 charitable donations having been made and these donations have been made to 35 organisations.”

Some of the charities include The Alleyne School fire victim; ALS Volleyball/Track Teams; AMMAR Empowerment; Barbados Cancer Society;  Barbados Heart & Stroke Foundation; Bay Primary School; Barbados Business and Professional Women’s Club; Blind and Deaf Charity; and the Breast Screening Programme.

Foster said the young people involved in the $20 Challenge have to explain why they selected a specific charity as part of their business report.

She added that the Barbados Cancer Society was the main charity the students showed an interest in supporting because their relatives or friends had cancer. The other popular charity was the Salvation Army, she said, because of the impact of homelessness across the island.

“So we are very proud of these young people,” she said. “We are proud of the teachers in the schools and the ambassadors who will work with them and of course, our sponsors.”

Foster added that the $20 Challenge was not only about business development among young people but it was a character-building initiative where students learned the importance of teamwork, time management, sharpening their public speaking skills and the necessity of giving back to the community.

“This says to me that our students are really ready for entrepreneurship and helping Barbados to become a better place through our youth.”

During the event, Scotiabank’s Haggatt Hall branch manager Ryan Carrington said the charity event took the development of the youth to another level.

“It encourages them to recognise the importance of giving back to their communities,” Carrington said. “Fostering generosity and teaching them about the importance of charity at a young age can empower them to make a meaningful impact on the lives of others. Engaging in charitable acts can also have a positive influence and help them develop many valuable life skills.”

(SZB)