Shannon Trust & The Secret Millionaire

Piers Linney is an entrepreneur with a professional background in law and finance. He has a rapidly growing profile in the media due to the growth of his award-winning and world-leading Cloud Service Provider and unified communications business, Outsourcery. One of the UK’s most successful black entrepreneurs, Piers is featured in the ‘Power List 2011’, a compendium of the top 100 black Britons sponsored by JP Morgan and Thompson Reuters . Piers is actively involved in promoting philanthropic causes within heritage and the charitable sectors.

During his nine days of filming at HM YOI Brinsford Piers worked with the Toe by Toe team.

“Learning the ‘simple’ skill of reading can be a life changing event as it suddenly opens a number of doors for people who feel they cannot break the self-destructive chain of events their life has taken on,” said Piers. “It empowers them, reducing the feeling of helplessness and providing a means to change the course of their lives themselves. Education is absolutely fundamental to social mobility and if you can’t read then you don’t have a chance.”

Speaking of the impact the Secret Millionaire programme has had on him, Piers says:
“The experience was a stark reminder that your place of birth, education, health and the social and financial status of your parents can have a profound impact on your chances of achieving your dreams and your social mobility. The show also re-affirmed my belief that individuals that have faced adversity or made mistakes should never be written off by the system or society. The show provided a reality check, which is something everyone living comfortably needs from time to time and it has left me with a number of long-term commitments, which is what I was looking for.”

Secret Millionaire with Piers Linney was screened on Tuesday, 10th May 2011 at 9.00pm

A Channel4 interview with Piers is available using the following link:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-secret-millionaire/articles/interview-with-piers-linney

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