Giving something back

In 2019, having spent most of my life working with and advising entrepreneurs, I wanted to do something real and give something back.

I therefore decided to embark on a challenge that would not only test me to my limits, but also raise money for the start-up entrepreneurs I was most interested in helping – those who value people and planet as much as profit.

In other words, ‘social’ entrepreneurs.

The driving force was the cause led by a fantastic charity called UnLtd, who find, fund and support social entrepreneurs.

They are the leading provider of support to social entrepreneurs in and around the UK and provide services such as helping to secure start-up finance.

Find out more at UnLtd.org.uk.

But what, exactly, should I do?

Having taken up rowing a few years earlier, I decided that rowing the Atlantic would be an extreme enough challenge to warrant some attention.

I didn’t fancy doing it alone so, fortunately, David Murray, the son of one of my closest but recently departed friends, Richard, agreed to join me.

So we set about preparing to enter one of the World’s Toughest Rowing races, name the boat The Entrepreneur Ship and started raising money for UnLtd.

On 12th December 2021, after intensive training and preparation, David and I rowed away from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to begin our 3,000 mile crossing to Antigua.  David was 57 and I was 68.

On 3rd February 2022 – 53 days, 3 hours and 42 minutes later – we became world record holders as the oldest pair ever to have rowed any ocean!  And we had raised 753,000!

So, what is our legacy?

We learnt a lot through the process of planning, fundraising, training and completing the challenge, but the key takeaway was resilience.  We achieved all of our core objectives and our motto, “Never Give Up”, reflects one of the key traits needed to be an effective entrepreneur.

The Entrepreneur Ship lives on and I am now managing a five year programme to put two people in a fully equipped ocean rowing boat to complete the challenge each year.

The deal is very simple – get a free, ocean ready boat in exchange for competing in the challenge and raising further funds for UnLtd. 

Interested in learning more? Please click here to get in touch.