Insider Media, March 2013
A Middlesbrough-based e-learning provider behind an online health and safety training package has secured investment from Northstar Ventures-managed fund.
Since its formation last summer, Mylearnadfriend has developed software that works in conjunction with 360 degree panorama photography to recreate any work environment on-screen and enable students to look for hazards and learn the correct way of dealing with them.
Now, with £100,000 of funding from the Finance for Business North East Proof of Concept Fund, the system is about to go live with a new website offering training for a wide range of industry sectors.
Managing director Tony Abbott said: “This has been a lifelong journey for me, and fellow directors Alan Hammersley and David Clark, and comes from a career working in health and safety and more recently e-learning.
“We were looking for a way to make this kind of training affordable and now believe that companies can no longer make the excuse of it taking too much time, costing too much or requiring employees to leave their day job for extended periods.
“It’s equally relevant to hairdressers, major manufacturers, brick-layers, garage workshops or voluntary organisations and can be accessed by apprentices right through to people of retirement age.”
Northstar investment manager Richard Exley added: “The statutory obligation placed on businesses large and small to manage health and safety issues properly means there is a huge market for mylearnadfriend’s suite of services.
“It simplifies the delivery of accredited training, reduces the time employees need to spend away from their work, is cost-effective, leads to accredited qualifications and improves safety standards. Everyone wins.”