Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) becomes patron of The Prince's Trust and member of the Technology Leadership Group

Konica Minolta, the global print and document management company, has become a patron of the UK youth charity The Prince's Trust. Neil Dingley, Managing Director, will join The Prince's Trust Technology Leadership Group - a fundraising and networking group for leading companies in the technology sector, which has raised more than 10 million to support disadvantaged young people across the UK.

The Prince's Trust, founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1976, gives practical and financial support to over 50,000 disadvantaged young people every year, giving them the skills and confidence to find a job. With more than a million young people are struggling to find a job, youth unemployment is estimated to cost the UK economy 155 million a week in benefits and lost productivity*.

Konica Minolta has made a four-year commitment to supporting Prince's Trust activity. Dingley commented: "The Prince's Trust approach of building lifetime skills and on-going development plans for those disadvantaged in the UK, is one that we whole-heartedly support and reinforces our UK vision of developing mutually beneficially partnerships, in turn we can build the skills and capabilities of our own teams and experience the personal rewards of making a real difference to young people's lives. We are very proud to be patron to such a worthy cause."

The patronage also provides the opportunity for over 850 UK-based Konica Minolta colleagues to become personally involved in fundraising and development activities. As an initial activity, 12 colleagues have signed up to take part in The Prince's Trust Million Makers competition, where businesses compete to turn an investment of up to 1500 into a healthy profit

Being part of the Konica Minolta Million Makers team will give colleagues the opportunity to take part in a real challenge in the real world. It will enable them to put business acumen, team working skills, creativity and negotiation expertise to the test, whilst developing new skills at the same time and, in doing so, raise money for The Princes Trust. Charlie Baxter, fundraising manager at The Prince's Trust, said: "We are very excited to welcome Konica Minolta as a patron of The Prince's Trust and a member of the Technology Leadership Group (TLG). As a market leader in print and document management Konica Minolta is a natural fit to help steer this group. Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd will sit alongside our other patrons which include prominent technology companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, HP, CapGemini and Accenture. Konica Minolta is clearly committed to making a positive impact on the communities in which it operates and we look forward to welcoming Neil Dingley to the TLG and working with Konica Minolta colleagues as they support the work of The Prince's Trust."

*The Prince's Trust and RBS report - Cost of Exclusion (2010).