BT's Euro 2020 CEO challenge nets S$27,000 for Budding Artists Fund

Singapore

A TOTAL of S$27,000 has been raised for charity, thanks to the generosity of a group of 16 business leaders who took part in The Business Times-Euro 2020 CEO Challenge, which ended on Monday.

When the European Championships reached the Round of 16 on the weekend of June 26, each of them "adopted" one of the 16 remaining nations and had to back them for the rest of the tournament.

The rules of the CEO Challenge were: If a person's team won, he or she would progress to the next round. However, if his team was eliminated, he or she would make a S$1,000 donation to The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF).

BT BAF is an arts training fund that has reached out to over 20,000 financially disadvantaged children and youths to discover their talents and help them develop their confidence through the arts.

The Euro 2020 final on Sunday night (Monday morning, Singapore time) saw Italy defeat England in a dramatic penalty shootout at Wembley Stadium in London, after both teams were deadlocked at 1-1 at the end of extra time.

OCBC Bank Group CEO Helen Wong, who was randomly paired with Italy, emerged the overall winner of the CEO Challenge.

Although she did not have to make a donation as the Azzurri (Italy's nickname) won the trophy, OCBC Bank kindly chose to contribute a sum of S$10,000 to BT BAF.

The runner-up in the CEO Challenge was Patrick Lee, the Cluster CEO (Singapore and Asean Markets) at Standard Chartered Bank. He backed England, which reached the final of a major tournament for the first time in 55 years. Standard Chartered will donate S$3,000 to BT BAF.

Together with S$1,000 from each of the 14 other executives, the total amount raised came up to S$27,000.

Among the other participants this year were Joseph Tan, Certis chief executive, technology services business, and Bank of Singapore CEO Bahren Shaari.

Mr Tan's team, Spain, reached the semi-finals where they lost to Italy in a penalty shootout. Mr Bahren's team, Denmark, also reached the final four with their journey ending with an extra-time defeat to England.

The last time BT organised a similar CEO Challenge in conjunction with a major football tournament was for the 2018 Fifa World Cup, which raised S$25,000 for BT BAF.