Mazars has supported Young Enterprise programmes at schools close to their network of offices. The partnership has been operating for two academic years, and Mazars volunteers have engaged as Business Volunteers, One Day mentors, judges and guest speakers throughout the partnership. To date, 132 volunteers from Mazars are registered as active Young Enterprise volunteers.
Mazars states that “Community involvement is deeply rooted across our firm. Whether it’s through volunteering, fundraising, mentoring, or skill-sharing – we support our team to get involved and make a positive difference. We have an incredible team that has an array of resources, skills, talents, and opportunities, and we aim to motivate our team to use them for the betterment of our communities. Through this, we can amplify the impact of our community strategy, which is focused on social mobility and education”.
Partnership Impact on the young people we support
To the end of May 2023, Mazars’ donation has supported the formation of 25 Young Enterprise student companies across the UK and 1166 young people taking part in entrepreneurship and employability programmes.
Where students completed evaluation surveys, data to the end of July 2022 showed that students supported by Mazars were able to report a real improvement in their skills and, in particular, some of the biggest areas of improvement as a result of participation were:
The three employability skills students rated as improving the most as a result of participation in Mazars supported programmes were:
How is Young Enterprise supporting Mazars?
Mazars states that “Community involvement is deeply rooted across our firm. Whether it’s through volunteering, fundraising, mentoring, or skill-sharing – we support our team to get involved and make a positive difference.
We have an incredible team that has an array of resources, skills, talents, and opportunities, and we aim to motivate our team to use them for the betterment of our communities.
Through this, we can amplify the impact of our community strategy, which is focused on social mobility and education.
True to our values, we believe that through our collective efforts, we become stewards of positive change, leaving a legacy that extends far beyond the boundaries of our organisation.”
The Young Enterprise partnership has been based on helping to develop a bespoke offer to help meet this goal in the areas in which Mazars operates.
There is also a focus on early career and graduate recruitment, and this partnership has helped expand Mazars’ reach to young people.
“Taking part in Young Enterprise has been a great experience. My personal highlight is watching my team of students grow in confidence from the first time they had to stand up and speak to the final presentation they did – the change in each individual and their confidence was so amazing to see.
I still can’t believe some of the individuals are only 15 when you watch them communicate with each other, learn to negotiate and try selling to the public, but also when trying to make their product as sustainable as they could – I definitely learnt as much from them as I hope they did from me.
Working with Poole High School has been a highlight of the partnership and the volunteers have really enjoyed engaging with the young people on the programme.
Mazars was keen to offer more skills-based volunteering opportunities for their staff and this partnership was able to support that.
Judging opportunities for staff at various showcase and trade fair events have also highlighted the power of Young Enterprise programmes and helped staff see the impact of volunteering support on young people”. Mazars Business Volunteer