ANTZ Cymru is a social impact organisation and part of ANTZ UK.
ANTZ was established in 2008 and works with brands such as Laing O’Rourke, Atos, and Unilever, as well as charities, Local Authorities, and the Ministry of Justice, helping to grow understanding of what social value is, how it is best delivered, and importantly, how it is measured. ANTZ brings clarity and standards to social value and builds frameworks that are critical to achieving positive outcomes for both your business and the communities you engage with.
ANTZ’ mission is to “reduce costs to society while changing lives both in and out of work.” What makes ANTZ unique is its “Business-led, community-driven” approach, ensuring that its services not only enhance, but also sustain, both commercial and social goals. This is particularly effective in areas such as strategic planning, bids, and tenders.
ANTZ Cymru has been established to help drive societal change within Wales, by working with businesses and the public sector, encouraging them to align their commercial and social strategies to deliver a win-win scenario, whilst meeting the aims and objectives of the Well Being of Future Generations Act (2015) and the Social Partnership and Procurement (Wales) Act 2023.
As part of this, ANTZ Cymru is helping business leaders understand and respond to the ever-increasing importance of social value in winning new work, by launching the first ever social impact learning qualification, thereby setting a standard for business to deliver impact and legacy within the communities in which they operate.
The qualification, which has been accredited in Wales by Agored Cymru, is part of a suite of training to create a culture of social impact within an organisation. It allows individuals to follow a journey in gaining a clear understanding of social impact and what it means, how to start embedding it in an organisation and across work processes. It enables innovation and understanding of how to evaluate and report on impact, to then finally build a social strategy aligned to the overall business commercial plan.
The social impact accreditation is designed for business leaders from any size organisation, from SMEs to global businesses, decision makers, owners and anyone connected to social value and/or procurement. The training support will enable a business to embed impact and legacy for the company and its local community and help a business build the foundations to be bid-ready.
Importantly, the accreditation will also help businesses bring clarity to what social impact is, keeping it simple and provide a straightforward methodology to drive engagement with social impact internally and externally.
It will add value to a business’s supply chain by encouraging them to join the social value journey, positively impact and change lives in and out of work and help business and community grow commercially and socially.
ANTZ Cymru works with organisations like Ardal (through its SEWSCAP construction procurement framework), and renewable energy developer, Bute Energy, to support their work in delivering positive, meaningful benefits for communities across Wales.
Bute Energy is committed to creating a greener future for communities in Wales by providing clean, and affordable energy while fostering local economic growth and social well-being. Every turn of a turbine will generate funds to benefit the communities closest to their proposed energy parks, and enable them to flourish for future generations, too.
Bute appointed ANTZ Cymru to work with its chosen suppliers, charity partners, and community groups to deliver long term, sustainable, impactful community change which is accurately monitored and evaluated.
ANTZ Cymru is developing a bespoke person centred, social value monitoring system on behalf of Bute Energy that tracks the individual. It will ensure Bute Energy’s community targets are met by placing charities and community groups in control of assessing and updating on progress, rather than taking the traditional approach of letting suppliers and contractors mark their own social impact homework.
In addition, each contract awarded by Bute during development and construction will see partners sign up to the Bute Energy Social Value Standard and gain access to ANTZ Cymru’s social value training.
ANTZ Cymru is also collaborating with Cardiff University and Hartree to develop a platform that leverages AI to connect Social Value thought leaders on one platform, providing a central hub for delivering meaningful social value.
ANTZ Cymru believes Wales is leading the way in the UK in ensuring social impact is front and centre of future development. Organisations need to embrace the legislation that has been created and understand that social impact is crucial to them not only winning new business, but retaining staff, and attracting the best talent and investment for their business, whilst delivering long lasting, positive change in the communities in which they operate.