Alice Henderson, who recently completed her Swarm Enterprise Apprenticeship with Free Bridge Housing was nominated for The Enterprise Learner of the Year Award held at the House of Lords on the 4th of November.
The award nominations was for recognition of an individual who has both embraced their learning programme with passion, and also shown a commitment to applying their newly acquired skills to pursue an enterprising activity.
The annual event was hosted by the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE) and the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI). It brought together educators, entrepreneurs and other key figures from the UK’s small business, enterprise and skills sector.
Alice Henderson, an Swarm Apprentice at Freebridge Community Housing in West Norfolk, has proven herself to be hard-working, meticulous, professional and able to use criticism constructively to improve her skills. At the end of her programme, Alice impressed senior members of staff by delivering a comprehensive presentation detailing the work she had put into a project designed to both attract revenue and support the local community. Freebridge Community Housing’s managers believe Alice to be a very strong young woman who will prove a great asset to the business.
Nic Preston, Chief Executive of SFEDI Awards, said:
“Freebridge Community Housing has been extremely fortunate to have Alice Henderson as an Enterprise Apprentice. This is a young person who has shown herself to have an innate talent for enterprise, on both a strategic and a practical level. Alice is someone whose future will be studded with success.”
Chris Perry, Managing Director of Swarm, comments
“I am especially proud of Alice as I took a personal interest in her journey through the training to become a very commercially savvy young business professional. Alice has and will continue to make a big impact at Freebridge and I look forward to watching her career blossom”
Alicewas appointed as a SwarmApprentice working for Robert Clarke – Director of Housing for Freebridge Community Housing a year ago, as part of her traning she had to come up with a new projectthat would add real value to the organisation and then pitch that project to her employers.Herprojectwas focused around raising tenant engagement to boost community social return. Her well communicated pitch, included a clear vision to increase tenant engagement through a new approach to marketing and promoting community events. The pitch was excellently supported by a detailed breakdown of the social return they could expect from this community investment and a clear costing model outlining initial investment, profit margins and how profit would be re-invested in local community projects.
Chris Perry goes on to say “Not only is this a fantastic example of what investing in a young person can bring to an organisation but also how growing the enterprising mindset is so important in developing and effectivefuture workforce.With the right support in teaching both the hands on skills and busineses attitude,apprentices can and will deliver impact to an organisation”
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