Ricoh extends partnership with The Prince’s Trust to help ignite youth

Ricoh is growing its support of future talent development by announcing an extension of its partnership agreement with The Prince’s Trust. As a Silver Patron, the enhanced partnership will see Ricoh UK and Ricoh Europe working together to help disadvantaged young people aged between 11 and 30 build the skills they need to find employment. 

Ricoh UK is an operating company of Ricoh Europe and has been Silver Patron of The Prince’s Trust since 2014. The new extended agreement sees Ricoh Europe join forces with Ricoh UK to expand support of the charity’s operations and youth programmes, through a combined programme of volunteering and fundraising.

As part of this partnership, Ricoh donated 20 multifunctional and print devices. This will support day-to-day operations of the charity’s locations which have received the new devices, with a value of £250,000, along with support services. 

To date, Ricoh has hired more than 20 young people directly from The Prince’s Trust and has delivered over 4,000 hours of corporate volunteering. During this time, more than 150 Ricoh employees mentored young people, and delivered CV and interview workshops to over 400 young people that were NEETS (not in education, employment, or training) to help them successfully reintegrate into full-time education or meaningful employment.

Nicola Downing, Chief Executive Officer for Ricoh Europe, said: 

“As an organisation, we are committed to supporting our local communities and a key part of this is investing in and developing future talent. We are focussed on creating an inclusive workplace where career aspirations and opportunities are equal, and our work with The Prince’s Trust aligns with these values and supports the development of tomorrow’s leaders. This year, through our new extended partnership with The Prince’s Trust, we can build upon our fantastic work together and equip more young people with the skills they need to take their critical first steps towards finding fulfilling employment.” 

To date, Ricoh employees have raised over £120,000 in funds for The Prince’s Trust through organising and taking part in a variety of events, challenges, and initiatives. These include gala dinners, boat racing and the Palace to Palace cycling challenge. All the money raised by Ricoh goes towards giving a young person from a challenging background the skills to thrive through a programme that will help them to stabilise their life and set them up for success. 

Several of Ricoh’s fundraising efforts have been delivered by cohorts of the EMERGE programme. EMERGE is one of Ricoh UK’s flagship learning & development programmes, with an innovative approach to social value delivery, recently recognised by CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development).

Glenn Griggs, Chief Executive Officer for Ricoh UK, commented: 

“The great thing about the work we do with The Prince’s Trust is that we’re helping young people across the country in a very tangible way, whilst enabling our own people to learn, develop and interact with the communities and projects close to their hearts. I would like to thank my predecessor Phil Keoghan whose passion and leadership made this a successful and meaningful partnership for Ricoh. We have done a great deal of good work together and we’re proud to be continuing our collaboration and commitment.”