Steve Cunningham, described as the fastest blind man on Earth, will be delivering a key note speech at the Cornwall Business Fair later this week.
Cunningham, who lost his sight when he was 12-years old, is regarded as one of the country’s foremost speakers and business motivators and was described by Geoff Hurst as having inspired him more than Pele.
“Like most people,” said Cunningham, “when I lost my sight I was devastated. I was in the Aston Villa youth set up at the time and had a promising career ahead of me.
“Suddenly I was being told I was only going to be good for tuning pianos or selling matches on street corners.
“That wasn’t enough for me so I went back into training with Villa and ended up captaining the English Blind Football team to the World Cup.”
He has also played cricket for England and then set himself his biggest challenge yet. “I wanted to become the fastest blind man on the planet which then led to world speed records on land and sea.
“Being me, I took it to the next level and ended up becoming the world’s first blind pilot, circumnavigating the globe to boot.”
As part of his speech, Cunningham will be launching the Take 50 Challenge for The Cornwall Blind Association, which will invite businesses to turn £50 into £500 in just 50 days.
He added: “The Take 50 Challenge is a fun way for businesses to engage with and support their work and to find more out about the charity and I’m very proud to be able to support them by launching this initiative at the Cornwall Business Fair.”
Steve Cunningham will be one of a number of key note speakers at the Cornwall Business Fair, hosted by Cornwall Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with Get Set For Growth, at the Health & Wellbeing Innovation Centre, on Wednesday, May 14.
Free tickets to see Cunningham or any of the speakers are available at www.cornwallbusinessfair.co.uk.
For details of the other events taking place during Cornwall Business Week, click here.
