RESTECH READY TO ADVANCE WITH
SANTANDER AWARD WIN
Bristol-based Restech (Robotic Educational Systems and Technology) has today been announced as a winner in Santander’s Social Enterprise Development Awards winning £10,000 to help fund the expansion of their Robotic education workshops.
Restech is a social enterprise that provides fun and inspiring workshops to schools and local young people on Robotics, Computer Science and Programming. The Santander award will help them build a website with an online learning platform and buy equipment to use in their robotic workshops which will help them expand their services to a wider audience and enable more disadvantaged young people to gain access to new skills.
Julian Alexander, Santander Regional Director, said: “At Santander we are committed to supporting communities and the Social Enterprise Development Awards were set up to help enterprises in the South West looking to grow. Restech has demonstrated the positive impact of their interactive teaching methods in the computing world and with increasing interest from schools they have great potential to expand. We’re very pleased to be able to help them realise their goals.”
Zan Nadeem, Director, Restech said: “The Robotics industry is growing and schools are adapting their curriculum to include more of it. We were thrilled to win a Santander Award as it will help us to keep up to date with the fast paced robotics world and deliver our workshops to even more enthusiastic young people. “
Santander’s 2013 Social Enterprise Development Awards saw a further 13 awards given to social enterprises in the South West. Community Farm received an award of £50,000, while Alive! Activities, Bristol Wood Recycling, Wild Futures, Cowden Farm, Cheese and Grain, Future Roots and Compass all received the £20,000 award. Falmouth & Penryn Community Radio, The Cookery School and Kitchen, Bike Space, Earth Health and Sims Hill Shared Harvest have received £10,000.
The Awards are 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 bespoke training.
Winning organisations will also receive valuable input from Quartet Community Foundation which will work with them to assess the social impact of their business and the effect the award will have on local communities.