Putting business knowledge to good use

When the Splash team arrived to prepare the site for the project build, it wasn’t long before the people for whom the infrastructure was for, offered to help.

In one day, 66 Imperial College Master’s in Management students built a football pitch, an outdoor stage and sheltered seating area for the Vitor Reis Morais Foundation, which supports vulnerable families at the site of its Horta da Areia Community Center on the outskirts of Faro, Portugal.  

The project was part of their three-day European Immersion residential which also involved an inspirational presentation by Splash Project Manager and former Royal Engineer Lloyd Comer, one of the last British Armed Forces members to leave Afghanistan when the Taliban took over in August 2021.

They then took part in a Strategic Challenge whereby the students used their business knowledge and skills to support three charities and three businesses overcome specific logistical, administrative or operational challenges. 

So, in addition to finding a suitable charity to benefit from their project, several months in advance, we also identified the additional six organisations which could benefit from the students’ recently accrued business knowledge; also a strategic challenge for us, but we practice what we preach here at Splash!

“What made it really special from the very start, before the students arrived, was the families wanting to help us,” said Splash Operations Manager Phil Weeks who was the Project Manager. “They saw what we were doing and then joined in and helped us. They were really grateful.

“During their project, the students interacted with the families and this really helped them understand the impact they were having.

“The Strategic Challenge phase involved the students putting together a pre-planned presentation for their chosen charity or organisation to help them solve a specific issue; this gave them the chance to contribute even further to the wider community.”

Sophie, MIM student, said: “It was very touching to see how we could help impact the lives of the people living here.”

David, a charity representative, said: “This project will bring the community together.”

Sarah Wilsey, Programme Director at Imperial College, added: “The project was a fantastic opportunity for the students to put all their skills and experience from their programmes into action and really give something back to others.

“This has been an amazing experience for them to enhance their skills in teamwork, time management and planning, as well as understanding what it means to work in the face of adversity and be agile and resilient.”