OU apprenticeships instrumental in tech firm’s success

Posted on 27 March 2025 • Business

An Open University degree apprenticeship partnership with an Oxfordshire firm has been one of the reasons web-tech company Olamalu gained a fistful of accolades for its apprenticeship offering to staff.

Half the firm’s workforce have experienced apprenticeship training – two employees recently graduated from the OU’s Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship and four others are at different stages of the same programme.

Now the business is celebrating after it scored three business awards including:

• The local SME Apprenticeship Employer of the Year award
• An accolade in The Department for Education’s (DFE) National Apprenticeship and Skills Awards. Olamalu picked up the regional award for IT SME Apprenticeship Employer of the Year.
• And finally, it was highly commended in national DFE awards.

Learning – a core part of business culture

Kate Berman, who founded Witney-based Olamalu with her husband in 2009, says they have always taken learning and skills development very seriously:

“Right from the early days of the business, we knew learning needed to be a core part of the business culture.”

As a small, rural employer, Kate says the web technology business faces two big challenges – attracting and retaining tech talent and ensuring they have the tech skills they need in an environment where skills are evolving all the time. She said apprenticeships solve both problems at the same time.”

According to The Open University’s most recent Business Barometer report, 86% of organisations using apprenticeships are expecting an increase or are committing to the same number of learners in their organisation over the next 12 months.

Skills shortage – report

The report’s UK-wide survey of more than 1,300 employers, found that 62% of organisations are currently facing skills shortages.

Jane Dickinson, the OU’s Digital Skills Lead, said:

“Olamalu is a shining example of a business that understands and sees the benefits of upskilling their own workforce and it richly deserves those accolades.

“But our Business Barometer report revealed that while many are offering training and committing to expanding apprenticeship numbers, there can often be a lack of strategic planning in some organisations.”

• Only 19% of businesses say they had implemented a written skills plan for 2024, while 71% have not.
• 63% of organisations do not have specific recruitment, retention, or training initiatives for targeted groups such as people with disabilities or younger workers.

Visit the OU’s apprenticeship programmes for more information or look at the new Click Start with The Open University programme, which helps UK adults access fully-funded opportunities to develop digital and professional skills.

Pictured are Kate Berman and husband Christoph Corvin with their highly commended award at the National DFE event.