*****TEXT: ATUD80 £[donation amount] to 70070

Hey everyone, I've recently found out I've been accepted onto ICS Entrepreneur. ICS is a UK government-funded development programme that brings together 18-25 yr olds from all backgrounds to fight poverty and youth unemployment. For me, this means that come October I will be off to Zambia for 10 weeks to work with Challenges Worldwide, a fantastic charity who encourage the sustainable growth of small to medium enterprises around the world.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day: teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." perfectly sums up Challenges Worldwide's ethos and it's an approach I strongly believe in which is why I decided to volunteer with this programme. If you'd like to read up more about either organisation, ICS or Challenges Worldwide please follow these:

www.challengesworldwide.com | www.volunteerics.org/ics-entrepreneur

What I'm doing to raise money: So, although the programme itself is government funded, in order to support Challenges Worldwide and ICS and help them to continue this development programme I have been set a target of raising £800 by the 14th September. I'd love to smash this target and keep raising awareness and funds throughout my placement but I won't be able to do this without your generous support! All donations will allow this amazing programme to continue helping local businesses to grow and develop. Your donations are incredibly important and hugely appreciated. In order to prove this to you I am going to set myself a number of challenges both in August and September to complete, hopefully raising more awareness and more funds along the way. Here's a list of things I'll be doing:

1. Tackling a Tough Mudder course on 22nd August...https://toughmudder.co.uk/events/2015-south-west
2. Finally kicking into gear and completing a triathlon, something I've never had the guts to do - 6th September
3. Donating all proceeds from any portrait done between now and the end of September to Challenges Worldwide.
   
4. Odd jobs! Last time this was a great success so I'll be offering my skills in cleaning, lawn mowing, car washing, dog walking etc yet again, with all money going directly onto this page not into my pocket. If you'd like to donate on here and then also get me to walk your dog (or do something) then get in touch/leave a message in the comments!!
5. Holding events such as art auctions, coffee mornings and other small things to raise awareness and funds for this great cause!

What I'll be doing in Zambia: The aim of this programme is to encourage private sector growth in Zambia. I will be partnered with an in-country volunteer and we will be working with a business that has specifically asked for aid. We will be focusing on one of 3 areas for development; Sales and Marketing, Financial Management and Reporting or Operational processes, with the aim to make it a more sustainable and profitable business. After intensive training and with specialist mentoring we will be able to offer new perspectives, training, advice and the necessary tools needed to help the business achieve their goals, whatever they may be. While in Zambia I will be staying with a host family who will very kindly look after me. I'm really looking forward to this aspect as it will allow me to become involved in a community as well as the business. Once back in the UK I'll also be completing an "Action at Home" where I will be involved in helping communities here in the UK through an event or action of my choice.

If you've read all this and are still interested and want to read more... check out this link for blogs and volunteer experiences! https://challengesworldwideicsentrepreneur.wordpress.com

Thank you for reading through this all! Any donations big or small will be hugely appreciated and really will make a difference!  

Cheers! Abi xxx

P.S. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.