Member Article

Local business beats Sage in Great North Run

Three local businessmen beat the CEO of global accounting software provider Sage in the recent Great North Run, to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Hook – based K3 FDS entered three members of its team in the event as part of a wider initiative from Sage to collectively raise over £68,000 for charity.

Prior to the event, Sage CEO, Stephen Kelly, publicly promised to donate an extra £2 to Cancer Research UK for every minute that a registered colleague, supplier or business partner finished faster than him in the run. With three in the race, K3 FDS was successful in crossing the finishing line before the CEO.

Andrew Fox, Managing Director at K3 FDS, Danny Broxup, from the company’s Presales Team, and Mark Buckle, from FDS’ Technical Support Team, were the three runners from K3 FDS who took on the 13.1 mile course.

And they were delighted to force Stephen Kelly to put his money where his mouth is after collectively finishing 20 minutes ahead of him, meaning he had to donate extra funds to charity on their behalf.

Andrew Fox said he was surprised that his team were sharper on the track than the Sage CEO, but praised him for fulfilling on his promise.

“Of course, to beat Stephen really was the cherry on the cake for us, and we are delighted that we were able to take him up on his offer to donate additional funds. It’s really inspiring for the CEO of such a large, globally respected company as Sage, to come out with such a pledge and it makes everyone at K3 FDS really proud to be a partner in business to the organisation. The work done by Cancer Research UK is funded solely by donations so any fundraising opportunity such as this one is a great excuse to support their hard work.“

K3 FDS is one the leading UK Sage partners and earlier this year was named the Sage X3 Partner of the Year, an award which recognises the business for its growth, execution, investment and commitment to Sage ERP X3, a product which it sells nationally to many industries including manufacturing, retail, pharmaceutical, and leisure. A keen fundraiser, K3 FDS takes part in a number of community initiatives each year across the UK and shares a similar vision to Sage itself, to become an exemplar in its community commitment.

Sage’s ‘Beat the CEO’ challenge at this year’s Great North Run coincided with the launch of the Sage Foundation, an initiative which will see the organisation donate two per cent of its product sales to non-profits, which is a sector K3 FDS also works closely with.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by K3 FDS .