Azook CIC has today been announced as a winner in Santander’s Social Enterprise Development Awards (SEDA) winning £15,000 to help fund a new archive-inspired range of products and a digitisation service centre.

Julian Alexander, Santander Regional Director, said: “At Santander we are committed to investing in and supporting communities in the South West and the Social Enterprise Development Awards were set up to help enterprises looking to expand. Azook carried out a comprehensive audit of the potential for their new enterprise and ran a pilot to test the appeal of the products. They had an overwhelming response which confirmed the high level of interest that exists in Cornish heritage not just in this area but across Britain and beyond. We’re very pleased to be able to fund the development of the new products and services which in turn will generate income for them to support their community activities.”

Claire White, Azook Director said: “Our work indicates that cultural heritage products and services bring communities together. The Santander award will help us to grow and we have ambitious plans for our enterprise – we’re aiming to run 40 community roadshows, train over 60 volunteers in digital skills and support teachers and pupils across the South West.“

Azook CIC was one of seven social enterprises to win an award in this year’s SEDA which saw a total of £240,000 distributed to organisations across the South West, part of a nationwide £2 million prize fund. Alongside the prize money, winning social enterprises will receive access to support from Santander including mentoring programmes, funding for internships and university business courses and training. Winning organisations will also receive valuable input from Quartet Community Foundation which will work with them to assess the social impact of their business and the prize on local communities.