International food and drink group, Princes, has established an Analytics & Data Academy with Multiverse, a tech company delivering digital apprenticeships.
The partnership will initially train 50 Princes employees across multiple business functions, with the ambition to empower colleagues, advance data skills, encourage revenue growth and boost efficiency.
Colleagues from areas including Commercial, Finance, IT, HR, Supply Chain, Operations and Strategy & Innovation will embark on one of three Multiverse programmes, each offering a chance to develop data understanding and technical skills.
Participants will take part in either a 13-month Data Literacy course, an 18-month Data Fellowship, or a degree-level Advanced-Data Fellowship. Each pathway is designed to develop data and analysis skills.
The ambition is that colleagues trained by Multiverse will be able to better harness the power of data to establish opportunities for revenue growth, and to help make the transition from manual to automated data processing practices within the business.
The first cohort of 25 Princes colleagues began their studies in December 2023, with over 40 more planned to start in 2024.
This investment comes as Princes outlined its refreshed people-focused company values, which aim to enhance business culture and future preparedness. These include encouraging ‘Trusted & Empowered’ coworkers and allowing employees to ‘Bravely Explore’.
Connie Emerson, Group Strategy & Transformation Director and Programme Sponsor at Princes said: “Multiverse is a proven leader in specialist apprenticeship training, which we are proud to be partnering with to establish this Academy at Princes. Through this collaboration, we’re confident that our Princes apprentices will build expert knowledge and improve the business’s approach to data analysis and planning. Our Multiverse-trained cohorts of apprentices will support Princes in making informed and data driven decisions to turbo-charge our growth and success."
William Hofmann, Head of Analytics & Programme Lead at Princes said: “The launch of our Analytics & Data Academy is a great opportunity for Princes colleagues from across the business to grow their skillset and diversify their value and capabilities as professionals. Across the Group, this increased data literacy will allow our teams to recognise business and revenue opportunities, and modernise our practices across a number of business functions.”
Peppa Wise, Vice President of Go to Market at Multiverse, said: “Enhanced data skills will unlock new opportunities for Princes: both as a business and for the individuals within it. The business will enhance its data-driven decision-making and delivery. Apprentices will enhance their career trajectories, gaining some of the most in-demand skills through our applied learning programmes."
With a commitment to helping people from all backgrounds to develop and build their future, Princes currently employs over 60 colleagues across the UK apprenticeship schemes.
In 2021, Princes was named ‘Employer of the Year’ at the prestigious Grocer Gold industry awards.
