McGregor put out a tweet asking advice firms to help him with the donations in September and has since gathered 25 machines, 15 of which are brand new.
He said: “My girlfriend is a teacher at the school, and she came home one day almost in tears because none of the laptops worked and none of the kids could really learn anything.
“That’s how it started. I said let me go out to the market and see if I can get any laptops which will be almost brand new for some of these companies.”
At the start of the pandemic, Mesa Financial gave businesses free advice on how to acquire Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) funding. In turn, some of these businesses returned the favour and contributed to McGregor’s efforts.
McGregor said Mark Posniak, managing director of Octane Capital, and Rob Jupp, chief executive of Brightstar, were the latest people to offer help. They join the likes of Your Mortgage Decisions, which has made two donations and Mortgage Xpress.
Dominik Lipnicki, managing director of Your Mortgage Decisions, said: “We’re all aware of disadvantaged children who don’t have access to a computer at home, or use a laptop can’t connect to modern routers and wifi, to be able to study. We know that when schools reopen, those children will be even further back than before.
“The government has tried to help but I don’t think it’s been a 100 per cent job. When I saw the tweet, I spoke to our IT team and asked if they could dig out the laptops we’ve got that are spares and unused.”
“More firms can help because every school will have children that need this sort of help. Even many of us at home have a machine where we’ve upgraded without having disposed of the previous one.
“It’s not a big deal but it can have a great impact, not just now but even after the pandemic. Credit goes to James for setting it up, it’s a great idea,” he added.
