90 | UK Enterprise Awards 2022 Commercial Foundation was founded in 2015 with the aim of providing opportunities to young adults between the ages of 16-25 – who had previously encountered barriers to work and education, while also embedding social value into the supply chain. We speak to its Director, Adam Miller, to find out more as the organisation takes the crown for Best Social Enterprise 2022. Commercial Foundation seeks to help young people on a path to work readiness and personal growth with its employability programme #NoLimits, designed to develop personal and practical skills in a nurturing work environment at the digital print press We Do. Print. We Do. Print offers a wide range of print services, with 100% of the profits reinvested into the Foundation’s work, so it can do more as well as driving change and create positive, long-lasting, social change. “Social value is at the heart of everything we do at the Commercial Foundation,” explains Director Adam Miller. “It is not something that is an added extra, or the cherry on top, it is fundamental to the way we operate.” First and foremost, the organisation’s aim is to change lives, Adam tells us. Opportunities for support among 16-25-year-olds were few and far between, and the initial aim was to plug that gap and offer anyone who had fallen between the cracks a second chance. Adam says, “The young adults we help aren’t statistics to us, they aren’t eight-week projects, they are young people that we care about long after they complete the #NoLimits programme.” By offering skills-based training and practical experience in real life business, Commercial Foundation helps to make them work ready – and as many as 86% do go onto work or to further training or education. However it doesn’t stop there, as the organisation’s doors remain open to them, with a skilled and trained team of counsellors available to help each person overcome their challenges. With the demand for flat print declining over the past 12 months due to homeworkers and online meetings not requiring business cards and marketing print, Commercial Foundation has evolved and sought to both diversify and expand its offering, in response to a changing demand in the market. “We have invested in new machinery to allow us to print envelopes and bind books, pads, and NCR (No Carbon Required) sheets as we look to respond to new demands,” Adam elaborates. “But more importantly, to satisfy a clear gap in the market, the Foundation has offered a bespoke fulfilment service that has helped organisations through the pandemic.” The Foundation was able to satisfy a demand to break down large orders of PPE, facilities and sanitisation supplies – and other items – into small batch sizes, even down to single items. This activity saw it sending PPE packs to individual retail sites and latterly, Covid test kits to homeworkers up and down the country. “It was by harnessing that Commercial By Nature spirit and having a flat organisational structure that we were able to move quickly and support organisations overcome the operational challenges they were facing.” Apr22262 Best Social Enterprise 2022 The Commercial ‘By Nature’ ethos of which Adam speaks runs far deeper, as it creates the backbone of the Foundation, underpinning all of its core values and objectives. The internal culture at Commercial Foundation is collaborative, collective, and fun, and encourages lively discourse and debate. “Commercial people are encouraged to think differently and think creatively. Like water, we will always find a way through for our clients. That means being able to deliver tangible benefits to our clients’ businesses in a sustainable and socially conscious way. It also means going that extra mile and pushing the boundaries to show that business can be a force for good in the world.” Whilst it’s true that most companies are defined by their people, Adam cannot express clearly enough how the Foundation’s people are the lifeblood of the business, and in turn the Foundation actively supports its employees in a way to help reach their full potential and achieve their dreams. This strong and unified way of working is what helped the Foundation achieve the prestigious title of Best Social Enterprise 2022 in the UK Enterprise Awards and Adam tells how he and the team are both excited and encouraged about what the future holds now. “Our feeling is that the optimism of the post-pandemic world will create a feeling of organisations re-evaluating what is most important to them,” he enthuses. “Our aim now is to help make that happen in the best way possible. In the last few months Commercial started a group-wide campaign entitled Build Back Better which we have shared with all our clients. The aim is to encourage a new way of thinking, including a real emphasis on a desire to return to the office in a more socially aware and ethically conscious way.” Contact Details Contact: Adam Miller Company: Commercial Foundation Web Address: www.commercialfoundation.co.uk
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