What is the Social Value Award?

The newly introduced Social Value Award has been put in place to promote links between business and the community and to recognise the importance of these relationships both for each party involved, and for the overall prosperity of the area. So thanks to our commitment to creating a community to serve the community, we have been recognised and rewarded for our positive contribution!

Joy Sewart, Head of Skills and Development at the Chamber, said: “Every day we witness first-hand the fantastic contribution individuals and businesses make to help Greater Manchester thrive economically, socially and environmentally. Because of this, we set out to find a way to celebrate their contribution and an awards scheme was created.”

We value our community, so we make sure that we’re as involved as possible at every level. The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce is an important platform for us to boost this integration, and our Head of Marketing, Jo, is the president for the Oldham branch, bringing together local business and creating cross-collaboration projects within Oldham.

Supporting local students

We are also involved with careers development schemes at local schools and colleges. We run work experience and internship programs with several of our departments, and regularly run workshops and talks on careers in translation and interpreting and the importance of studying languages.

We also participate in initiatives such as mock interviews, to help students prepare for university and job interviews, and also been involved with local council boards to increase initiatives for young people and students to get involved with work experience around Oldham, regardless of the career path they want to follow.

Charity fundraising and volunteering

As regularly as possible, our employees get involved with our community and charity initiatives, either by volunteering with a local charity or by participating in fundraising events. In the past six months, we have volunteered with Dr Kershaw’s Hospice and RSPCA Oldham and have raised money for the Mahdlo Youth Zone, RSPCA Oldham, The Prince’s Trust, Brain Tumour Research and Alzheimer’s Society.

We’re incredibly proud of all our employees who have contributed in one way or another and thrilled at how the wider community has welcomed our initiatives – so we’d like to say a huge thank you!