School children in a small town in Ghana can look forward to better educational facilities thanks to Arrow Shipbroking and the persistence of its London office manager.
The UK shipbroker has provided financial support to fund rebuilding and refurbishment of a school, as well as supplying computers for its classrooms.
A lack of funds and maintenance is said to have left the school almost derelict, while a storm two years ago completely ripped off the roof, rendering the building unusable.
Joe Amankwa, Arrow’s London office manager, had supported the project to rebuild the school for a number of years, but was unable to raise sufficient funds, so he approached Arrow to help the project.
“We immediately saw that this was a truly worthwhile project, where funds go directly to where they are needed most,” Arrow managing director Jeremy Palin told TradeWinds.
“This is our first charitable project in Africa; it came on the radar as it was a cause very close to the member of staff who brought it to us.”
The original school was built in the early 1980s by Ghana’s then head of state, the late general Kutu Acheampong, who also came from Joe’s hometown of Atwima-Hwidiem.
“Joe has been our London office manager for over 15 years," Palin said. "He is a very popular member of staff, largely due to his near permanent state of extreme happiness.
“It came as both a surprise and an honour when Joe told us that the school wanted to name the school after us. We are all very proud indeed of what Joe has achieved."
Covid-19 permitting, Joe and Arrow’s recently retired finance director, Peter Hares, plan to visit the school, which will be able to educate up to 80 children next year.
“We do not have a specific charity programme, our corporate charitable endeavours tend to be more ad hoc, typically when they are brought to the board by members of staff,” Palin said.
“We have also been a long-term supporter of The Halow Project since its inception in 2006. It was originally formed by, amongst others, Richard Meins [one of the founding directors] and former Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill.”
The Halow project provides a framework for young people with learning difficulties to lead an active and independent life. Today, it supports more than 190 young people in the UK.
“We have a firm policy of always supporting staff members' individual charity efforts,” Palin said.
On his own charitable ambitions, Palin tells TradeWinds he has “long been meaning to swim the English Channel”.
However, he said the idea of a charity ‘white collar’ boxing match with one of two of our “esteemed clients has a certain appeal”.
