paul

 

A successful businessman discovered Village By Village on The Big Give, joined a Saharan trek and is now a trustee of the charity.

Village by Village created a project on theBigGive.org.uk inviting wealthy entrepreneurs to accompany them on a three week trip visiting Ghanaian villages. The trip was designed to bring western entrepreneurial skills to the Ghanaian villagers in the hope of increasing the villagers’ revenue and improve quality of life.

Paul Broom, a successful British businessman, had spent several years looking for the right charity to give his money and leverage his knowledge of enterprise. Searching on The Big Give, he quickly came across the Village by Village project and signed up for the trip alongside Neil Kerfoot, the charity’s Chief Executive.

The match was perfect. After three weeks travelling through Ghana, Broom had helped a number of struggling Ghanaian businessmen and been shown by Kerfoot how his skills can be just as effective as his money.

One year on Broom is now a trustee of Village by Village as well as a regular giver to the charity.  Of his experience of becoming a trustee, Paul said: “I found the Big Give really useful as it acted  both as a directory and a filter to identify charities who operate in areas you want to become involved with. It also  give you an insight into their culture and values which I feel is important as you need to be able to understand these if you are to develop a relationship over time. The Big Give can shorten your research time and help you avoid potential pitfalls when you are searching for charitable organisations you want to help. It certainly worked for me and for Village by Village.”