Acorn Training announces the launch of its new umbrella company: Acorn Futures

From 1 September 2024, Acorn Futures is announced as the new umbrella company of award-winning national training provider, Acorn Training. Acorn Futures comprises five businesses; Acorn Training, Acorn Justice, Acorn Employability, Acorn Health and Acorn Neurodiversity. The announcement of Acorn Futures sees each individual division sharing its own logo and signature colour. The individual businesses will be subsequently launched over the next few months and years, as and when existing and new contracts end and begin at Acorn Training.

As the business moves forward and expands, the existing Director of Operations and Growth, Sophia Franzen, will further cement her position of leading Acorn Training whilst also taking on responsibility for all of Acorn Futures’ divisions with a new job title of Group Chief Operating Officer (COO), and Managing Director, Gareth Fallows, will move into the role of Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to focus on developing and implementing the wider strategy and diversification of the group while ensuring any future growth and acquisitions complement the existing Core Values.

Sophia plans to continue Acorn Training’s growth and ensure that the business delivers high-quality care and support to individuals and communities whilst developing and growing the Acorn Futures divisions. Since joining Acorn Training in 2011, Sophia has helped to achieve rapid growth, diversification and innovation while ensuring our customers and learners are at the heart of operations.

Acorn Futures hopes to create new opportunities in the training sector; allowing Acorn Training’s current operations to expand and delve deeper across the individual divisions – training, health, justice, and employability. The group will also look to explore the area of neurodiversity further, to be even better placed to support those with differences in learning through the Acorn Neurodiversity division.

This shift to launch an umbrella company is a testament to the existing team and partners at Acorn Training, the growth over the past few years to ensure innovation and robust development have been at core of operations across the entire business. The diversification into new areas, including the Justice sector, and to increase in the company’s offering has created scope for the new individual divisions. There are already lots of exciting new and exciting developments progressing well and these will be communicated to stakeholders soon.