Sir Tom Hunter is “On the Money”

Philanthropist and businessman Sir Tom Hunter was quizzed about money matters by Glasgow school children as part of the On the Money project sponsored by Standard Life, Learning and Teaching Scotland and Scottish Book Trust.

The entrepreneur, and founder of Sports Division, met pupils from Oakgrove Primary School on Wednesday 10 October to discuss the everyday financial dilemmas faced by families and the different ways of managing money in the 21st Century.

On the Money is a progressive and innovative financial capability project aimed at helping children become financially responsible adults. The emphasis of this unique initiative is to introduce financial topics to primary aged children through storytelling. Combining literacy, numeracy, and providing opportunities to use drama, On the Money is a book of short stories which aims to bring financial education to children aged between eight and 12 to help them become financially informed and aware. On the Money gives pupils an opportunity to engage with key financial concepts and to do this in a very creative and enjoyable way. The project involves four well known Scottish children's authors who were commissioned to write stories that incorporated or touched on areas such as the moral dilemmas relating to finance, debt, wants and needs together with entrepreneurship and money management.

Author Nicola Morgan attended the event with Sir Tom to discuss her story, Charlie Fly and the Nice Dream which focuses on developing an entrepreneurial culture. Charlie and Fly set up their own detective agency but find that there is little demand for their services and they may have to change their approach. Sir Tom discussed a number of issues that the story raised and drew on his own entrepreneurial background. He answered questions from the children as wide ranging as “What made you start selling trainers?” to “What do you need to know about running a business?” In addition, they talked about Sir Tom’s foundation which works on enterprise projects in Scottish schools.

Carnegie Medal-winning author Theresa Breslin’s short story, ‘Down the Pan’ was also on the agenda. Her story tells the tale of Jamie MacBeth, a mischief maker, who suggests that his class should raise funds to provide toilets for African school pupils.

Sir Tom discussed the story, and the values behind helping others, with pupils and explained about his own work in Africa. He has committed himself to giving £1 billion of his fortune to charity and has been involved in several projects in Malawi and Rwanda. The children were interested in his views on Fairtrade, ECO Schools and promoting health in Africa.

Sir Tom Hunter said: “We believe, in absolute terms, the route to ensuring the delivery of a 'can do' culture in Scotland is through greater investment in education. Enterprise education, we hope, will open up the minds of our children towards self-confidence and determination. In our view, opportunity should prevail for all and Determined to Succeed a major investment in achieving that goal."

Jim Lally, Director of the Scottish Centre for Financial Education at Learning and Teaching Scotland, said: “We are delighted that Sir Tom has taken time out of his busy schedule to work with young people in this way. He can make the connections between enterprise and responsibility which is vital if we are to live in a prosperous society supporting those who do not have the same economic resources as we do.”

Anne Gunther, Chief Executive of Standard Life Bank Limited, said, “We have worked with schools for over 15 years in the area of financial education but this is definitely one of the most interesting and creative projects we have been involved with to date. We wanted to help young people develop positive attitudes and behaviours towards money, and to us there was no better place to start than in primary schools.

“It is a challenge to make financial education a compelling topic for this age group and it is fantastic that Sir Tom has given his time so generously to bring these stories and topics to life.”