A manager at specialist lender Blemain Group is named Philanthropist of the Year by the Junior Chamber International (JCI).

JCI is a voluntary network of young professionals, which has over 250,000 active members in over 100 countries and names Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Jaques Chirac amongst its alumni.

Adam Westbrook, group customer relations case manager, received the title through the JCI’s Manchester Young Talent Awards. He has been working as vice chair of Blemain Group’s Supporting the Community Committee. The committee was set up earlier this year by the lender’s management and staff, and welcomes every employee to get involved in supporting their local community.

So far, the team of volunteers have worked on many projects in their spare time, and close ties have been forged with Royal Manchester Childrens Hospital and the Youth Motivation Project at Ladybarn Community Centre, where the team work on life skills workshops with young people.

Westbrook said: “We are fortunate that at Blemain there has been exceptional support throughout the business for staff of all levels to engage in worthy causes locally that are close to their hearts. The Committee is something everyone at every level of the business feels passionately about. We feel it is incredibly important to give something back to the community in which we do business.