Per Wimmer taking part in "The Secret Millionaire"
The Danish media channel TV2 is starting the programme series “Den hemmelige millionær” inspired by the award winning “The Secret Millionaire” concept known from British Television, where millionaires donate money to people who do a difference. In the first programme Member of the Danish-UK Chamber of Commerce Per Wimmer relocates from his life in London to a 1-bedroom flat in social housing estates in Nakskov, Denmark
Per Wimmer donated money to the local organisation “Kontakten”. Foto: Thomas Frandsen/TV 2
Prior to the programme Per Wimmer did not know where he was going to stay for the 10 days where the programme was recorded. He was told by the production team on their way to Nakskov. Charity is not new to Per as his companies Wimmer Space and Wimmer Financial support different charities, but the new thing in this programme was that Per had to be the charity himself, meaning he was meeting with the persons behind the organisations face-to-face.
“It made a big impression on me to meet with the everyday heroes and heroines who go that extra mile for others” says Per Wimmer. “In general it is just little things which make great differences for many people”.
The first thing Per Wimmer did was to consider all the charities in Nakskov and their purpose.
I had to decide myself who to donate the money for – either to donate all money to one organisation or to spread the money between more organisations” says Per Wimmer and explains that he made four criteria. First of all the money should cover an uncovered need. Per did not want to donate money to something already covered by the local authorities. Secondly it had to make a great impact for somebody and thirdly it had to provide good social returns and finally it had to be a good management or a good social entrepreneur behind the charity to make sure plans were put into action.
Per Wimmer donated £ 28000 to the following 3 local organisations. “Kontakten” a charity helping elderly people in their everyday lives. “Ørnen” the local boxing club “Havnen” a hostel for drug addicts and alcoholics.
During the 10 days of production, Per Wimmer stayed on night at the welfare hostel called “Havnen” sharing a room with a drug addict.
“It made a great impression on me to see how these people live and how rough their lives are”.
President of the local boxing club “Ørnen”, Jan Rasmussen, was singled out as a prime example of social entrepreneur acting not only as a coach but also as a guardian outside the training premises.
Per Wimmer og Jan Rasmussen,
President for the boxing club “Ørnen”.
Foto: Thomas Frandsen/TV 2
“It is not only about donating money but also to see how you can make a difference for other people by doing a small thing” Per says “I have learned from this experience how important it is to listen and acknowledge the needs of other people and also see how little of my time can be spend making a huge impact for another person”.
The programme was very well received and at the end of the programme it had been wached by 1 million viewers or on average by 823000 persons, which is 42% of those watching TV that night. Following the programme Per Wimmer has received several mails congratulating him on his achievements and commitment to these important causes.
