Change the World. 50 years of Budimex

Special attention should be paid to the project “Change the World. 50 years of Budimex”. In 2018, Budimex, which is the backbone of our capital group, celebrated 50th anniversary. On that occasion, we decided to finance and implement a special, jubilee social programme. The programme referred to the philosophy that motivated our everyday business activities. By building motorways, bridges, or buildings, we make a substantial contribution to socioeconomic development, thus changing the world at the level of local community, region, country. Because we wanted to support those who think the same, we announced a competition. The condition for participation was to submit an innovative project, implementation of which would actually affect lives of local communities and promote a vital social idea. In September 2018, the competition’s winner was selected. 500 thousand zlotys from Budimex SA went to the “Trzy czte ry!” Foundation, the creator of the first Polish forest primary school “Puszczyk” in Osowicze near Białystok. The school infrastructure project was selected from nearly 100 submitted applications. The winners participated also in workshops organised by the company, where the project was analysed with the design thinking method, which allowed for its optimisation. After two and a half months, at the forest border near Białystok, a complex of pavilions was established, constituting the field base for the school, which now may inspire facilities all over the country. However, Budimex SA did not end its cooperation with the newly established school “Puszczyk”. In 2019, the “Trzy czte ry!” Foundation was able to count on the company support – both financial and professional.

Benefactor of the Year 2019 award for Budimex

Budimex SA was the winner of the 22nd edition of the contest “Benefactor of the Year”. The company won in the category “Education – a large company” for the construction of the first Forest School “Puszczyk” in Poland, located in Osowicz, near Białystok.

The competition is organised by the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland. This is the largest competition of this type, with the longest tradition in Poland. Socially responsible companies have been honoured with this award for over 20 years. In 2019 edition, the Competition Jury awarded the titles to laureates in 7 categories: local development, corporate foundation, education, ecology, social welfare, health, and sport.

The Competition Jury awarded Budimex for the cooperation with “Trzy czte ry!” Foundation, as part of which the forest primary school was opened. It was the Foundation which applied Budimex to the competition. “Thanks to Budimex, we were able to fulfil our dreams and prove that there is an alternative to traditional schools and show that the teacher’s role must be redefined. As labour market research shows, what we lack is not knowledge, but soft skills such as ability to cooperate, openness to changes, ability to listen to other people’s ideas, assertiveness. This is what we want to teach our children first and foremost,” said Agnieszka Kudraszow, President of the Foundation and the initiator and founder of the forest school.