Business Champion Awards official supporters of The Prince’s Trust
October 6 2022
The team behind the Business Champion Awards are pleased to announce that their chosen charity for the 2023 awards is The Prince’s Trust.
Open to young people aged 11 to 30 from all over the UK – no matter if they have been facing some serious issues such as homelessness or if they’ve been in trouble with the law, as long as they’re willing to start over and aim high, then The Prince’s Trust is ready to support them.
We’ve all heard about it, but how did it begin?
It all began in 1976, when the then Prince of Wales had a bold idea. Having completed his duty in the Royal Navy, HM The King became dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged young people in the UK. He founded His Trust to deliver on that commitment.
Back in the 70s, the UK was struggling with record levels of unemployment and rising inflation; young people were being left behind. The Prince used his Navy severance pay – £7,400 – to fund a number of community initiatives.
Twenty-one pilot projects were set up around the country. Grants were given to a 19-year old woman to run a social centre for the Haggerston Housing Estate in East London and for two ex-offenders to run a fishing club. Funds hired swimming baths in Cornwall to train young life guards and for a self-help bicycle repair scheme. These early initiatives were the founding projects of The Prince’s Trust and helped to lead the way to inspire many more projects.
In the 45 years since then, the Trust has assisted over 1 million young people find their way and contribute to society from just being who they were meant to be.
Today, the Trust’s work now spans across many countries on a global basis helping young people to start a business, get a job or receive training and guidance on what to do.
Help us support 50 young people who need it the most
As the Business Champion Awards is all about celebrating and rewarding British champions of business, in conjunction with our Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, we thought it fitting for our 2023 business awards programme to support The Prince’s Trust.
Richard Alvin, founder of the awards, is himself an ambassador for the Trust. Before this, he has sat on the boards of numerous companies and is also currently an honorary teaching fellow on business and entrepreneurship at Lancaster University that is focused on supporting the creative work and businesses from the talented minds of the students attending them.
Proceeds from the celebrity auction on the evening of the grand awards finale will all go to the Trust. Last year we were able to donate over £30,000 to Mind, the mental health charity through various activities including an auction selling off acquired pieces of art, unique cheffing experiences, limited edition sports products and once-in-a-lifetime getaways.
Richard said:
‘I’m very proud to know that our work at the awards recognises the hard work of current business owners and through this collaboration with The Prince’s Trust, we can now say that we’re supporting the entrepreneurs of the future too.
Staying current is incredibly important to every single business – the youth of today will be in the best position to know what the future generations will need. Going into business is a steep learning curve and it’s good to know that we can help to make a difference to young people’s lives and give them the future they deserve.’
The Business Champion Awards 2023 will support The Prince’s Trust by holding an auction on the evening of the grand awards finale, with all proceeds going to the Trust. Last year’s awards finale raised over £30,000 with the auction selling off acquired pieces of art, unique cheffing experiences, limited edition sports products and once-in-a-lifetime getaways.
