Education for little money
Two Styrians implement a project close to their hearts in Ghana
Hannes Schreiner and Markus Maierhofer are successful Styrian entrepreneurs. One runs Technopark Raaba, the other FIMA Industries in Weiz. Now the two are opening up a new field of activity - in Ghana, West Africa.
The 29-year-old Technopark boss Schreiner was prompted to rethink his approach by a health shock: two years ago, he suffered a stroke. After this "near-death experience", he decided to "tackle the projects I had always had in mind", he explains in an interview with Krone. The question of what is really necessary in life came to the fore.
Glimmer of hope in crisis region
This is where Maierhofer came into play. The 38-year-old heads FIMA Industries, which specializes in green technologies and develops sustainable infrastructure. Focus: Europe and Africa. In Nigeria, for example, he has implemented a 40 million euro initiative for waste recycling.
Together they forged a plan to implement an educational project in the region. Ghana was chosen because the political situation there is stable and the economic outlook is positive with expected growth of 4.3 percent this year.
Thousands of rucksacks and water bottles as a starter pack
"Markus travels to Africa every few weeks, but I was a bit panicked before the start," says Schreiner. "Apart from five or six vaccinations, I was completely unprepared." After a 14-hour journey, they arrived at their destination about an hour's drive from the capital Accra - and were welcomed "as if we were presidents". In their luggage: emergency aid in the form of 2500 rucksacks and bottles of water.
But that's not all. For the time being, the Styrian duo want to raise 200,000 euros to support two public schools, each with 1,000 to 1,500 pupils. The classrooms in particular need to be renovated. For example, 130 children learn together in a 40-square-meter room that is not equipped for the rainy season. "Education is the key to a better future, but learning is extremely difficult under these conditions," says Maierhofer.
"The leverage is enormous"
In addition to the structural problems, there are also school materials, seating and, last but not least, simple snacks. "The leverage is enormous: with an investment that could perhaps equip a single school class here, you can build entire schools there," says Schreiner. "With 100,000 euros, I can achieve much more there than in Austria with millions."
In addition to the improvements for each individual pupil, the overall level of education is also set to rise; currently only one in four children in Ghana completes school. Schreiner and Maierhofer are also investing a lot of their free time to remedy this situation. "In future, I will often spend three to four days in Ghana," says Schreiner. He is increasingly shifting his commitments in Styria to the weekend, which is why he recently put in extra shifts around the opera revue. He has already managed to convince two businessmen from his circle of acquaintances to join him on his next visit.
The contentious company boss, who is not afraid to sue the city of Graz for millions in damages for a construction project on the Bahnhofgürtel that was delayed for years, shows a completely different side to his Ghana commitment. His motto: "It costs money, but it changes lives."
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Kommentare
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,
die Kommentarfunktion steht Ihnen ab 6 Uhr wieder wie gewohnt zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
das krone.at-Team
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.