Posts Tagged ‘Save the Children’

In search of Business Heroes

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Are you a Business Hero?How would you like to use your business skills for something amazing?
To really show off your entrepreneurial talents while helping others?
Save the Children has launched an amazing initiative encouraging young people to use their talents to make a real difference.
Called Business Heroes, it is literally looking for that: young people who can use their skills to raise money for the victims of Haiti’s earthquake.
And as one of Save the Children’s largest corporate supporters worldwide, Reckitt Benckiser is furthering its commitment to help the charity by supporting this fabulous opportunity.

What’s it all about?
The initiative is designed to raise funds for Haiti after the initial media interest has dwindled.
You will pitch your entrepreneurial skills against others from across the country to see who can raise the most money.
And the business idea that raises the most money will bag an internship at Save the Children for summer 2010.
There is also a prize for the most innovative overall fundraising idea.
But not only that, you will have the chance to gain skills and experience to build your CV and ensure you stand out from the crowd at job interview.
The competition is open to anyone and you can enter as a team or as an individual.
But you are encouraged to think big and your project should be planned and have a budget attached.
Your funds can be raised by selling a product or a service.
And to qualify, a business plan must be submitted, funds must be received by April 10th and a one-page description of your initiative must also be produced.

Where to start?
If you need a little inspiration the Business Heroes site has an idea’s area to get you started.
Problems are opportunities so think of a problem people have – laptop surgery? Fixing push bikes? – and find ways you can solve those problems.
Do you have a skill to sell? Can you organise a charity auction? Can you organise an event?

If you are looking for ways to ensure you stand out from the crowd when it comes to searching for a job, this is an ideal opportunity.
Your ideas and achievements will be visible to companies across the UK who are searching for great talent.
And you could have the unique opportunity to work with an experienced mentor to develop your plan if your business plan is chosen.
So if you have a groundbreaking idea that can mobilise people and resources and affect change, why don’t you sign up?
If you’re looking for inspiration or more details, visit the Business Heroes website. You will also find them on Facebook and on Twitter.
This really is an amazing opportunity to boost your career prospects – and tangibly help Haitian children affected by the earthquake.

I would also like to highlight the quick response of RB in collecting funds for Haití. Several countries across the business started to fund raise money immediately after the disaster.
In Spain, for example, we gave the employees the chance to make direct donations from payroll and we raised more than 8.000€.

You can see the work of Save the children in Haití in the following video:

NOTE: If you are looking for seedfunding for your business idea (to get it off the ground) you will need to have your business idea submitted by Wednesday, February 10th at 11.59pm.

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We did it! RB Spain’s Save the Children success

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Hi everyone!

On Saturday we celebrated a fundraising event for Save the Children in RB Spain’s Logistics Centre (near Barcelona) and I just wanted to take the opportunity, as I’m blogging here, to thank everyone who helped to make it possible.
The effort of all RB volunteers was extraordinary (the event was set up in only one week as we decided to do a last minute action for 2009 and the 12th of December was the only date available).
Everyone worked really hard doing different tasks. I started coordinating all volunteers and I ended up recounting the products people were taking as a hand was needed there.

We finally raised more than €10,000 for Save the Children, which is fantastic!

The event was based on a RB Spain donation of products; the employees and their relatives, friends, etc. took these products and made cash donations for them.

Here are some pictures of it. I am on the top centre picture (I’m the first one on the left). Can you see how corporative volunteers were dressed? Pink & grey of course ;)

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Reckitt Benckiser’s partnership with Save the Children started in 2006 and since then a lot of RB countries, like Spain, have started to do fundraising actions to contribute to the global programs.

This year for example, RB launched the “Do something Big” program globally and, as you might have seen in posts on this blog, several countries are contributing to it (ie. Do something big challenge in Germany).

At RB Spain we are glad to announce that with the funds we raised on Saturday we’ve overachieved our local target for Do Something Big that will go over €50.000 this year!

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Students: Here is your chance to Do Something BIG

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

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Have you ever really wanted to make a difference, to do something that matters, to do something BIG?

German students have a  fantastic opportunity to do just that, by taking part in an amazing competition which challenges entrants to create a simple yet innovative idea to save children’s lives in Angola, one of the poorest places in the world.

 

The competition is being run by RB Germany together with Save the Children. Student groups are invited to plan the whole project and manage it like a real business case.
It needs to be realistic and efficient. Entrants also need to show strong problem-solving skills, sharp analytical skills and persuasiveness.
Projects will be rated by KPIs (key performance indicators) such as how well the project fits the region, how well social networks are used to raise awareness, how efficient the money would be used and, of course , the quality of the idea.

And the winners will be given the opportunity to visit Angola and see first hand the projects that Reckitt Benckiser is implementing there.
The winners’ idea will also be documented throughout as a case study for corporate social responsibility e.g. for universities.
This scheme follows a tradition of collaborations between RB and Save the Children in finding great projects that impact and really make a difference to the children who need help the most.
The closing date for entries is the end of March 2010 and they will be judged by experts at Save the Children and Reckitt Benckiser colleagues.

 

If you want to join in, you can find all the information on the Do Something Big website. The site is German only however, as the project addresses German students.
Plus you can even help just be subscribing to the newsletter – Reckitt Benckiser has pledged to add 1 Euro to the project budget for each e-mail address subscribed to the newsletter.

 
So don’t wait – DO SOMETHING BIG!

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Committed to making a big impact

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Reckitt Benckiser is known to most as the leader in the household cleaning segment which has several mega brands to its credit.
It is also known as a company which has been committed to providing superior products to consumers.

 

However, few know of the company’s commitment to child welfare.

 

RB has been associated with Save the Children (STC) since 2003 and has continually been organizing fund raising events to support their programs across the globe.
In June this year, RB undertook its second Global Challenge to raise funds for educational programs being run in J&K by Save the Children.
As a part of the Challenge, employees from across the global offices of RB participated in a trek in the Ladakh region. They also stayed on to spend time with children covered under the program in J&K.

And the £260,000 plus raised will help make a difference to the lives of thousands of children. £108,000 of the total raised will go towards helping 24,000 children across 400 villages in the state alone.

 

RB had earlier partnered with STC to support a program for Child Domestic Workers in West Bengal. In total £90,000 was contributed towards the program which helped change the lives of 780 children trapped in unskilled domestic work in the state.

 

 

It is rare to find an organization which builds a culture of giving and promotes such noble causes.
But it is initiatives like this which make people proud to be part of an organization like RB – the company is committed to making a big impact in whatever it does.
It’s the right thing to do to help the societies we work in so when we do it, we want to do it well.

To find out more about RB’s involvement with Save the Children and social responsibility, and how we’re making a real impact on saving lives, visit the community section of our new corporate website.

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RB Graduates bake off and get advice on career take off!

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Last week we had our annual Graduate Development Day-an all day workshop/catch up between the Australian and New Zealand Sales & Marketing graduates. Between the two neighbouring countries we had 18 graduates (quite an exponential growth when you consider that 18 months ago there were only 5!)

Our Kiwi counterparts flew to our shores for the day and we kicked off with an evening out at dinner with the Australian Sales & Marketing directors. It was a relaxed and informal opportunity for the newest recruits to the RB business to pick the brains of the most experienced leaders of the business.

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Friendly rivalries and sporting bragging rights aside- dinner conversations topics flowed thick and fast and ranged from Harpic toilet cleaners to working overseas and even midnight karaoke sessions!

The next day included graduate presentations on current roles and experiences, a presentation from our Sales Director on business performance and his own career advice and an information session on succession planning and improving personal development.

RB employees not only work hard we also bake hard! The day coincided with the inaugural BAKE OFF (a fundraising initiative for the Save the Children Foundation) All RB Sales and Marketing employees volunteered to bake a cake or other goodies to bring in so everybody from the business could for a small donation come and feast on as many sugary treats they could stomach.

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The graduate day ended with a challenge for the graduates to brainstorm the development of real life RB case studies, which will be presented to marketing students in both Australian & NZ universities – a fabulous opportunity for graduates!

Our RB competitive spirit or perhaps sugar high (?) kicked in and both teams devised interactive and informative ways of presenting real life RB marketing issues and ways to encourage budding account managers or marketeers to think of innovative and viable solutions.

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You can thank us later for making your university lecture much more interesting!

If you want to learn more about a graduate career at Reckitt Benckiser, read more posts on this the official RB blog, chat with our Twitterers or visit the RB jobs site.

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