Fota delivers sunshine, ministerial encouragement and youthful exuberance.
A sun baked Fota Island Resort Hotel provided the perfect location for the first basis.point Regional Dinner supported by Prestige Patrons BNY Mellon and Matheson. Over 230 colleagues from the Muster and South East region, joined together to celebrate the impact that our industry wide collaboration is having on the lives of young people from the region.
And boy did it deliver! basis.point is about creating opportunities and nothing speaks louder than hearing first hand from young people who have been offered an opportunity as a result of the funds industry philanthropy and run with it.
Speaking at the event, Edel O’Malley announced that basis.point is on track to have raised €2 million in funding for the region by the end of the year, which has supported a number of local initiatives.
By deepening our investment in programmes that support young people directly in the region, we can enhance life opportunities for young people experiencing disadvantage.
And if we needed evidence that these supports were working, we saw it in bucket loads from the four funny, talented, articulate and self assured young entrepreneurs from Colaiste Phobail Bheanntraí who shared their inspiring journey of establishing an ESG-friendly business, recycling glass to create stunning Irish jewellery.
L-R Tempy Stock, Meadhbh Sammon, Minister Michael McGrath, Aoife O’Shea, Elaine McSweeney Picture. John Allen
basis.point are sole funders of the Foróige Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) programme in the Cork region. The girls were national finalists in the competition this year and are inspiring examples of how support at the right time in a young persons educational journey can be transformative.
They bring to life the very essence of basis.point and all that we hope to achieve through our industry collaboration.
It was also wonderful to hear the words of encouragement from Finance Minister, Michael McGrath, who shared his personal conviction that education is essential to creating a more equitable and inclusive society.
Speaking from the heart Minister McGrath spoke of the impact that education has had on his own life. He was privileged to be the first in his own family to go on to third level education and acknowledged that there was no way that he would have had the tremendous honour of serving in government were it not for his education.
Our work is about investing in belief, giving young people a sense of agency, and doing our best to ensure that no single child is left behind. Our young entrepreneurs received a standing ovation for their contribution to the celebration and raised a challenge to us all.
We think the Foroige Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship Programme should be rolled out to every school and that all students should be offered the opportunity that we have had.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could help make this aspiration a reality.
For those of us privileged to share an evening together in the Fota sunshine, the ministerial encouragement and the youthful exuberance has endowed us with renewed optimism and a commitment to make this happen.
Please contact us if you were inspired to deepen your involvement with basis.point. Thank you to BNY Mellon and Matheson for their vision in supporting this event. We look forward to further building our regional presence in the future.
