Santander announces Social Enterprise Development award winners
18 November 2011
Following judging of a ten strong shortlist, three social enterprises and community organisations in Tyne & Wear and Northumberland have been granted Santander Social Enterprise Development Awards.
The three winning enterprises are Trust in the North, the Rising Sun Farm and Hextol who have won £50,000, £30,000 and £15,000 respectively.
- Trust in the North is a social enterprise supporting disadvantaged people in the village of Lynemouth, South East Northumberland. The award money will be used to buy new equipment and to boost the organisation's sales expertise for its successful confectionary business, Kenspeckle.
- The Rising Sun Farm Trust runs a number of community initiatives including preserving the Rising Sun Country Park for walkers and cyclists, educating local people about farming and environmental issues, and housing a Day Centre for the learning disabled. The £30,000 will be used to part-fund new stables at the farm, enabling the trust to expand a livery and stable service for local residents.
- The Hextol Foundation aims to improve the lives of people with disabilities and other disadvantages by creating opportunities to work and by providing education and training. The award money will enable Hextol to hire a sales person, which will help them to grow and expand their work.
Speaking about the winners, Craig Iley, Santander Corporate Banking Regional Director and chair of the judging panel, commented: "We are delighted to announce the winners of the Social Enterprise Development Awards. Trust in the North, Rising Sun Farm and Hextol demonstrated impressive enterprising activity which is making a significant contribution to their local communities already and we felt they each have great potential for further growth."
The shortlist was judged by an expert panel consisting of chief executives from voluntary and social enterprise organisations as well as a social entrepreneur investor and a corporate financial advisor.
Rob Williamson, Chief Executive, Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, which is managing the awards for Santander, said: "Picking winners from the shortlist was not easy. We believe these winning organisations will make the best use of the prize money, making a positive long term impact on the lives of the local people they help."
The Awards have been created as part of Santander's commitment to supporting small businesses in the UK. Social enterprises play a vital role in local communities by helping to deliver social regeneration and the SEDA scheme aims to help those with potential to expand their work.
Alongside the prize money, winning social enterprises receive access to support from Santander including mentoring programmes, funding for internships and university business courses and training.
Winning organisations will also receive valuable input from Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland which will work with them to assess the social impact of their business and the prize fund on local communities.