Four months after a group of Acronis employees went to the remote
village of Soupa Serere in Senegal to break ground for a new school,
the school opened its doors to 140 excited boys and girls eager to learn
and chase their dreams. The school was built as part of a joint project
between the Acronis
Foundation (a non-profit organization established to build a more
knowledgeable future) and buildOn
(a non-profit organization focused on breaking the cycle of poverty,
illiteracy and low expectations through service and education).
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Acronis employees, Graeme Hackland, CIO of ROKiT Williams Racing Formula One team and students celebrate the opening of the new Soupa Serere school (Photo: Business Wire)
The school’s opening ceremony brought together families, village elders,
and guests who all celebrated the knowledge and amazing opportunities
offered by the new school.
“It’s all about joining forces for a better future for these kids,” said
Jochen Berger, Managing Director of the Acronis Foundation. “Acronis and
its partners from around the world are bringing not only hope but the
actual means for local boys and girls to have access to knowledge,
empowering them to follow their dreams.”
With help from its high-profile sports partners ROKiT
Williams Racing Formula One team and Arsenal
Football Club, the Acronis Foundation provided educational supplies,
shirts, and footballs – promoting health and physical education to help
make the school work fun.
“We are proud to support the Acronis Foundation by raising awareness and
donating team memorabilia for their fundraising activities. It is an
unforgettable experience to see the joy in the eyes of boys and girls,
so willing to learn,” said Graeme
Hackland, CIO of ROKiT Williams Racing Formula One team who attended
the opening ceremony.
“It is always a privilege to support local communities and children who
love football,” said Arsenal’s Communications & Community Affairs
Director, Mark Gonnella. “We believe that football has the power to
inspire young people and teach them valuable life skills, such as team
work and respect. These are transferable into other aspects of their
lives and can help them to unlock their true potential.”
The West African coastal country of Senegal is home to more than 13
million people with more than 50 percent of the population living below
the poverty line. Less than 40 percent can read and write. The new
school will provide safe learning environment to Soupa Serere children
who previously had to walk four kilometers every day to attend another
school in a nearby village.
This is the fourth school built by the Acronis Foundation since the
launch of the Schools
Initiative program in 2018. An additional four projects are already
under way, and the Foundation has the goal of building 15 schools during
the next three years to provide access to educations to thousands of
boys and girls around the world.
“We do empowerment. It’s not just the schools we’re building. We work
with communities to break the cycle of poverty. Every school is a great
investment in the children and communities that we support. Building a
new school in this community has the potential to change lives,” said
Maurice Muchene, Vice President of Business Development at buildOn.
To find out more how you can support Acronis Foundation projects, please
visit https://acronis.org/
About Acronis Foundation
The Acronis
Foundation was established by Acronis in 2018 in honor of Acronis’
15-year anniversary and the company’s founding principle that all
evils are caused by insufficient knowledge. The Foundation supports
multiple initiatives around the world designed to stimulate education in
order to gain and protect knowledge. Acronis Foundation has been
creating and sharing knowledge by funding schools, research, and
training programs in communities around the world.
About buildOn
buildOn’s
mission is to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low
expectations through service and education. Across the global buildOn
empowers people to transform their neighborhoods through intensive
community service and to change the world by building schools in some of
the economically poorest countries in the world. Since 1991, buildOn
volunteers have contributed more than 2.2 million hours of service and
constructed nearly 1,500 schools worldwide. More than 197,000 children
and adults attend these schools every day. For more information, visit www.buildon.org
buildOn has a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator.
About Acronis
Acronis sets the standard for cyber
protection and hybrid
cloud storage through its innovative backup, anti-ransomware, disaster
recovery, storage,
and enterprise
file sync and share solutions. Enhanced by its artificial
intelligence-based defense against ransomware, blockchain-based
authentication, and unique hybrid-cloud
architecture, Acronis protects all data in any environment,
including physical, virtual, cloud, mobile workloads, and applications. Founded
in Singapore in 2003, today the company is trusted by more than 5
million consumers and 500,000 businesses worldwide, including 79
of the top 100 most valuable brands.
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