Dear Colleagues, Friends, Business Partners, Family: Living and working in South Africa, every day on the commute to work, one is faced with views of extreme poverty. But those who are visible are the ones that are able to do a little something about their situation, even be it begging at the traffic lights. But there are others that are not able to do so and remain invisible - orphaned children that have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS and live in the poorest areas of South Africa with very little help available to them. Starfish helps these kids with the provision of Education, Health Support, Food & Strength and also tremendous love from the Starfish team. http://gigaf.org/1aIY2ri This year The Hackett Group SA team will ride for a purpose - we will be "powered by ESKOM" and use the wind for "sailing with DAL" while IQbusiness stands behind us with support - thank you very much for the donations to the purpose. And of course The Hackett Group that allows us to deliver some cash flow to Starfish. We will complete the 15, 30 and 50km Mountain Bike Challenge on Nov 10th (various fitness levels demand various routes...), and a week later, we will have a second team riding the complete 94.7 Cycle Challenge - which means literally 94.7kms in and around Johannesburg. Some riders do both events. Our team is an excellent display of diversity: I look forward to wearing this jersey with pride. We will not be the biggest team (by far not), and we may not all be the fastest riders either, but we will definitely have the best company-branded jersey of them all: - DAL Deutsche Afrika-Linien is one of the most highly respected liner shipping companies operating with a focus on Africa. - IQbusiness is the largest independent consultancy in South Africa and Subsahara - ESKOM is the largest producer of electricity in Africa, is among the top seven utilities in the world in terms of generation capacity and among the top nine in terms of sales. - The Hackett Group is global leader in best practice advisory, business benchmarking, and transformation consulting services including strategy and operations, working capital management, and globalization advice. - and the flags represent the nationalities of our team – can’t get much more diverse. We have South Africa, Romania, Germany, Guatemala and Italy represented in the team. This is not just a race against the clock but a race to raise for funds for Starfish Greathearts. The total numbers of our team are not yet clear due to difficulties in bicycle availability for the out-of-region colleagues – and also there may also be a couple of clients joining – but the absolute focus and determination is there. Last weekend we completed a 25km trial race in 34 degrees C under a cloudless sky; 1 Hour and 35 minutes over 195 elevation meters up and down. Not bad, but improvable. Each participant needed about 3 liters of water and lots of SPF 50! If you have not given to charity this year - or always wanted to give but never got round to doing so - or if you are looking for a cause that makes a real impact in people's lives right on our doorsteps - this is your chance to make a difference to some poor children’s’ lives. Just pull out your credit card and do it - it's 5 minutes for you but makes a real difference for a child in need. Please follow this link: http://gigaf.org/19Pf5vu For the UK taxpayers – if you use this donation interface you can also claim the tax benefits of doing so. Please feel free to forward this note to anyone who you may think would also like to help! The Momentum 94.7 cycle challenge is the world's second-largest timed cycle race. It is held annually in the city of Johannesburg. Between 20,000 and 30,000 participants complete the challenging course every year. The 94.7 Mountain Bike Challenge consists of a 30 km race on unpaved roads with technical challenges and amazing views across the Waterfall Country Estate and Leeuwkop Prison Farm. More info on the event: http://gigaf.org/1aD3RLt Warm regards and thanks in advance for your support Jonas