This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications and Events Officer.
2021 Tour de Talents original route map.
On the 1st May 2021 Five Talents set off on our first-ever virtual challenge: the Tour de Talents! We encouraged as many people to sign up as possible and asked participants to spend a week journeying with us across the six eastern African countries where we work. We started in Morogoro, Tanzania, and set our finish line at Bujumbura, Burundi to travel (running, walking, cycling or even swimming) a total of 2,848 miles. With the help of three generous sponsors (Eigen, Glorious Brands and Weatherbys Bank), each mile logged raised £1 and crossing the finish line tripled the pot to a total of £8,544 - and what a week we had!
The week started off strong - on the morning of 3rd May we had already arrived in DR Congo, passing through 5 of the 6 countries on our path! Each time we entered a country, we shared the story of one of our inspiring entrepreneurs from the new destination - such as Selena from Uganda and Mary from South Sudan.
“We have always found pleasure in helping someone less fortunate than ourselves. We were particularly interested in reading the success stories Five Talents published during the Tour.” - Erica & Dave, Tour de Talents participants.
Just 48 hours in, there were only around 700 miles to go to make it to our end goal in Bujumbura, Burundi. Our staff and sponsors were bowled over at the enthusiasm of our participants. It was a result beyond our wildest dreams. We had participants from as far as Australia logging miles, and people of all ages. One primary school teacher had her students logging miles as a class during P.E.!
“I happened to be on The Isles of Scilly last week, just walking and appreciating what I have, especially after the many months with COVID restrictions. I was delighted my trip coincided with the Five Talents challenge, and over the week I logged 80 miles.” - Glenys, Tour de Talents participant.
Route map from Bujumbura, Burundi, to Mombasa, Kenya, with a stop in Terekeka, South Sudan.
By the end of the day on 3rd May we had already reached Bujumbura, but we knew we had to keep our momentum going. Another generous sponsor joined us on our journey and we decided to stretch our finish line from Bujumbura, Burundi, to Mombasa, Kenya, where Five Talents will begin a new programme this year. Along the way we made a stop in Terekeka, South Sudan, site of another new programme - this added 1,813 miles to our journey!
“When I heard that Five Talents needed volunteers to do some miles for Tour of Talents, I was up for it. I enjoy running and cycling and the further the better. My approach was going to be different as two weeks earlier I had fallen off my bike and injured my shoulder needing surgery. I could not run but I could walk, and I could only cycle on an inside static bike. So, during that week in May I walked and cycled as far as I could knowing that every mile was bringing in valuable resources for Five Talents.” - David, Tour de Talents participant.
By the morning of the 6th May, our virtual team had travelled all the way to Mombasa with another big finish - and still our walkers, runners and cyclists were hungry for more! So we chose to stretch our target again to Nyapyidaw, Myanmar, encouraging everyone to log as many miles as possible in the last few days.
By the end of 8th May the team of over 240 participants logged a total of 7,040 miles and met nine talented entrepreneurs along the way! Together, with the generous support of both the participants and our sponsors, we raised over £11,000 which will bring Savings Groups to over 440 new members.
We’re incredibly grateful for the overwhelming success of our first-ever Tour de Talents. We know, as a team, we can accomplish anything.
“When people work together, things become easier. My Savings Group is a place of relief.” - Honorine, Savings Group member in Burundi