‘It is my duty to give back,’ says entrepreneur whose life was turned around by mentors

Skill Up Step Up: Chair of charity at heart of our jobs campaign says employers can be ‘giants with shoulders that young people can stand on’

Kenny Imafidon knows better than most the transformative effect that encouragement and support can have on someone who has hit rock bottom. At the age of 18, he was in prison awaiting trial for murder and thought that life as he knew it was over. But, having been acquitted, and with the help of a succession of mentors who had an unwavering belief in him, he has transformed his life, setting up a successful business, advising royalty and becoming a trustee of several charities, including BBC Children in Need.

He is determined, he said, “to pay it forward” and now mentors more than 100 disadvantaged young people who are trying to find their way in the world.

His story is an example of how, with the right support, a person can alter the course of their life. Among the many organisations he represents, he is also chair of City Gateway, one of the charities at the heart of our Skill Up Step Up campaign which helps disadvantaged young people get into jobs.

Now 28, the social entrepreneur said: “You cannot downplay the kindness of strangers. In my own life I have been helped by so many people and I feel it is my duty to give back. A village of people helped me get where I am today. Sometimes I am the first person to believe in someone, and they need that. I needed people to believe in me when I didn’t think much of myself.”

Two days after his 18th birthday, Mr Imafidon was charged with the murder of a 17-year-old boy in southeast London in a joint enterprise case. He spent months on remand before he was acquitted at trial on the direction of the judge.

But he realised his name would still be linked to a crime he had not committed and he decided to take action to change the narrative of his life.

Before he went to prison he had done work experience in the office of Harriet Harman MP and former deputy mayor of London, Valerie Shawcross. He decided to grab every opportunity and offer of help available and took his A-Levels while in prison.

On his release he compiled a report about the different reasons why people drift into gangs, known as the Kenny Report, which he delivered to the House of Commons. He credits the Amos Bursary, set up by Baroness Amos, for funding his three-year law degree and setting him up with a peer mentor and professional mentor, and he has a long list of other people who have mentored him officially or casually along the way.

Mr Imafidon is the co-founder and managing director of Clearview Research, a social and market research agency. He was also appointed to advisory board of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust and became chair of City Gateway, a charity that prepares young people, who often lack self-belief, to become work ready and enter the workplace.

He said: “What I love about City Gateway is that we are the first people to back people who may not have done well in education or who have had some big curveballs thrown at them by life. If they are a young parent or young carer or grew up with a hectic lifestyle, or were involved in a criminal lifestyle and want to change things, whatever it is, here they won’t be judged. We support them and whatever dream they have they will never be laughed at.”

Our £1m Skill Up Step Up campaign, in partnership with Barclays LifeSkills, is providing two years of funding to City Gateway and up to four other charities in a bid to upskill disadvantaged jobless young Londoners so they can be “work ready” and step into sustainable jobs or apprenticeships.

Mr Imafidon said: “Campaigns like this are important – there are no excuses why you can’t do something. Whether you decide to give work experience placements, apprenticeships or jobs, you must do something. There is nothing extraordinary about my background. I have stood on the shoulders of giants. With this campaign it’s about employers seeing themselves as the giants with shoulders that young people can stand on.”

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Our campaign in a nutshell

What are we doing? We have launched Skill Up Step Up, a £1m initiative in partnership with Barclays LifeSkills to upskill unemployed and disadvantaged young Londoners so they can be “work ready” and step up into sustainable jobs or apprenticeships.

Why are we doing this? Youth unemployment in London has soared by 55 per cent to 105,000 since the start of the pandemic, meaning that 21 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds are jobless at a time of record job vacancies of 1.17 million countrywide. This mismatch, caused largely by an employability skills and experience gap, is leading to wasted lives and billions of pounds of lost productivity for our economy.

How will it work? The £1m from Barclays will provide grant funding over two years for up to five outstanding, handpicked charities that provide disadvantaged jobless young Londoners with employability skills and wrap-around care to get them into the labour market and transform their lives. The charity partners we have announced so far are:

1. Springboard: they will support young people into jobs in the hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants, bars, leisure and tourism) via a three- to six-week programme that includes one-to-one mentoring, soft skills and employability development (confidence, work attitude, CV building, interview practice and time management), practical industry and hard skills training, including food safety and customer service, as well as access to work experience placements.

2. City Gateway: they will get young people work ready with a 12-week employability programme, including digital skills, a work placement, CV and interview skills and a dedicated one-to-one coach, extending to up to 20 weeks if they need English and/or maths qualifications, enabling them to gain entry level positions including apprenticeships in a wide range of sectors, including finance, digital media, marketing, retail, property and IT.

More partner charities will be announced in due course.

How can the young and jobless skill up? If you are aged 16-24 and want to upskill towards a job in hospitality, contact Springboard here.

If you want to upskill towards a job in any other sector, contact City Gateway here.

For tools, tips and learning resources visit www.barclayslifeskills.com

How can employers step up? We want companies – large, medium and small – to step up to the plate with a pledge to employ one or more trainees in a job or apprenticeship. They could work in your IT, customer service, human resources, marketing or sales departments, or any department with entry level positions. You will be provided with a shortlist of suitable candidates to interview. To get the ball rolling, contact the London Community Foundation, who are managing the process on: skillup@londoncf.org.uk

How can readers help? The more money we raise, the more young people we can skill up. To donate, click here