ACCOUNTANTS at Deloitte’s Scottish offices have been celebrating a stunning win in the Micro-Tyco challenge to raise as much money as possible from a £1 “loan” in just a month.
Their well-honed financial skills helped them raise £52,435 to land top spot ahead of estate agency Linklaters.
The Deloitte team sold calendars and cookbooks, ran a lunch delivery service and organised a cinema night and a black tie dinner. Senior partner Ian Steele said winning for the second year running was “the icing on the cake”, but spare a thought for the third-placed team: Saint Joseph’s Primary School in Aberdeen made up for its lack of experience with plenty of business acumen, running take-away nights and a fashion show to net £13,510. The children also raised money by inviting the city’s oil engineers to test their skills by estimating the number of Lego bricks in models of ships and rigs.
The competition, backed by some of Scotland’s top entrepreneurs, raised £250,000 in total, which will be ploughed into micro-finance initiatives to fund businesses in the world’s poorest countries.
Recruiter toasts 25th year
Engineering sector recruiter Orion Group is toasting its 25th anniversary in fine Highland style. The Inverness-headquartered firm is bottling its very own 25-year-old single malt Scotch whisky, which it plans to hand out to lucky clients.
Only 100 bottles of the malt are being produced by the Tomatin Distillery – labelled 1-100, and worth an estimated £150 each – so the recipients are in for a rare treat.
Orion Group chairman Alan Savage said: “Our staff and clients have helped shape Orion Group, and we want to thank them in true Scottish style.”
Rae loses ‘spoofing’ title
Property firm Knight Frank wrote to the business desk to tell of its annual Scottish investment agents’ “spoofing” championship, held in the convivial surroundings of the Black Cat pub in Edinburgh.
We are reliably told that John Rae, head of the firm’s Glasgow office, lost his title to upstart Douglas Binnie, a graduate recruit. However, even after a search on Google, we have no idea what “spoofing” actually is – perhaps it’s one of those estate agent terms that the rest of us don’t quite understand.
No matter, because the contest raised £1,500 for charity, split between Calum’s Cabin and Short Stature Scotland.
Fundraisers have bottle
Employees from the Kilmalid bottling plant in Dumbarton – owned by Scotch whisky producer Chivas Brothers – raised a whopping £10,000 for charity during a recent pink-themed fundraising day. The amount includes £5,000 match funding from the company’s “doubling up” scheme.
The event included a baking sale, raffle, disco and various prize draws; while those not wearing pink for the day paid a fine to the good causes.
The money will be split among ten charities.