Speaking at Business in the Community's (BITC) summit in central London on Friday the prince appealed for greater participation in Business Connectors, a programme backed by 21 supporting companies including Fujitsu and Waitrose –with a further six companies announcing their support at the event.
Since launching in July 2012, 73 individuals from 21 companies have been placed in 55 deprived communities across England – providing support to communities worth £2.5 million.
The prince addressed an audience of 700 representatives from businesses, charities, voluntary sector organisations and local authorities from across England.
He recognised the work of companies such as Accenture, BT and Marks and Spencer, but called on businesses to increase their support and appealed to charities and voluntary sector organisations to benefit from the willingness of business to provide support at local level.
One of the companies involved is Lloyds Banking Group. In addition to funding infrastructure and training for all new business vonnectors, it has committed to placing 60 senior employees on year-long secondments over the next three years.
"The programme provides a robust platform from which everyone wins," said Lloyds corporate affairs director Matt Young.
"Businesses can use the programme to demonstrate its continued commitment to communities but, of more importance, business connectors have a depth of understanding about their local community and have the ability to break down local barriers to help deliver greater social and economic resilience within their community."
Companies select candidates through an open recruitment process that mirrors seconding companies own internal processes, or they will identify individuals with specific personal development objectives that match the business connector role, and offer it to them to enable them to meet these requirements.
All business connectors are senior manager level or above.
BITC aims to place 600 connectors in more than 200 areas over the next five years.
