Young Enterprise Shropshire secures biggest ever funding pledge
The Shropshire arm of Young Enterprise, the UK’s largest business and enterprise education charity has just received a grant of £56,000 from Telford based Alcoa Fastening Systems (AFS).
Secured through the company’s Alcoa Foundation , the donation is part of the foundation’s support for non-profit organisations throughout the world, which promote environmental stewardship, enable economic and social sustainability and prepare tomorrow’s leaders through education and learning.
From the academic year beginning September 2012, the two-year funding, £32,000 in the first and £24,000 in the second, will be used to support ten Telford and Wrekin area schools in two Young Enterprise programmes. Project Business, where students aged 13 to 16, enjoy a ‘taster’ of running a small business for a day and Company Programme, where 15 to 19-year-olds, mentored by Young Enterprise advisers, set up and run a business for a year. The most successful of the year-long projects will be crowned business of the year at a Shropshire awards ceremony in May, with the potential to progress and become a regional, national and European winner!
Commenting on the grant, David Graham, Young Enterprise manager (education relationships), said: “This is the biggest single funding boost we have had in our recent history and is perfect timing as Young Enterprise steps up a gear to become the country’s foremost business-led educational charity. The grant will help to attract students from secondary schools who wouldn’t normally get involved in Young Enterprise and will focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) types of businesses. Employees from AFS will act as business mentors and the company has also offered its office and warehouse facilities as training rooms and to help students gain the practical skills in a ‘real’ workplace environment. It is exciting times for Young Enterprise and we are very pleased to have AFS on board.”
Lucy Moloney, HR manager at AFS said: “This funding will enable more young people to get involved in their own projects and gain the practical skills of how business works, whatever projects they undertake. The focus of Young Enterprise on STEM is particularly relevant to us as we are an engineering company. As a consequence we will also be able to offer additional advice and guidance to the businesses established in these specialist areas.”
For more information, visit: www.young-enterprise.org.uk/west_midlands
