- Lloyds Bank has extended its sponsorship to become an active partner of Engine Shed
- Engine Shed initiatives will benefit from Lloyd’s expertise and collaboration
Lloyds Bank has renewed its sponsorship of the Engine Shed, and extended its partnership with the addition of an active sponsorship agreement that will see the Bank’s staff offer their expertise and mentoring skills across a number of Engine Shed initiatives.
Engine Shed’s inspirational talks, mentoring for school visits, and youth events such as Street2Boardroom, will greatly benefit from Lloyds’ involvement. The Street2Boardroom initiative was launched in 2016 by Clayton Planter (a TEDxBristol 2017 speaker), and has been instrumental in breaking down cultural barriers between business and social communities in the city.
The knowledge that Lloyds Bank brings to the partnership will be particularly valuable in supporting Engine Shed’s mission to strengthen and diversify the local angel investment market, providing support to existing angel networks, and encouraging and enabling more female angel investors through exclusive training events. The sponsorship will also assist the economic hub in delivering extra thought leadership events on topics that strengthen gaps in the local scale-up ecosystem.
Jo Harris, Managing Director of Business Banking at Lloyds Bank, said:
“Engine Shed is a fantastic hub of activity for start-ups and we’re thrilled to be playing an active role in its development, as well as in the development of small businesses in the area, sharing our skills and experience with young people and local business leaders.”
Engine Shed’s recent Diverse Workforce for the Future project will also benefit from Lloyds Bank’s input. The project aims to encourage and inspire young people from diverse settings to consider careers in the digital, low carbon, and tech industries, where adults from their backgrounds are currently under represented.
Engine Shed Centre Director, Nick Sturge commented:
“We are delighted to be able to continue working with Lloyds Bank, and to work together in creating sustainable and inclusive economic growth. This is the third year of support and we are pleased to be able to work together on more projects, which we’ll announce in in the coming months.”