海角视频

鈥淚t is easy for each one of us to think that the issue around inequality is everyone else鈥檚 problem, but together we make up society. So the question I would like your readers to ask themselves is 鈥榳hat is it that they can do?鈥� or 鈥榳hat are they doing to help bridge the gap?鈥�

These are the questions Bristol鈥檚 Poku Osei wants you to ask yourself.

This year Mr Osei鈥檚 social enterprise Babbasa has celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Babbasa helps disadvantaged young people from ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds into work, education and business.

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Since its formation in 2013, the organisation has helped support over 4,000 people across the city of Bristol, spanning over 60 cultural groups, providing mentoring, skills training and recruitment support to advance their professional ambitions through its network of over 500 cross-industry organisations.

BusinessLive caught up with Mr Osei to find out more about what the organisation does and how it has grown in the past decade.

He told us: 鈥淏abbasa has been around since it officially started in 2013, but now we have 22 staff - full time permanent staff. We started supporting 16 young people and are now supporting 600 young people a year. This year will be the first year supporting circa 600 young people.鈥�

'Inequality is unfortunately a by-product of capitalism'

Babbasa鈥檚 first major grant funding was 拢200,000 and now it attracts 鈥渁ll sorts of contracts and relationships with both private and public sector organisations鈥�.

Over the past decade Babbasa鈥檚 offering has evolved to include recruitment and inclusion services, focused on supporting organisations to diversify their workforce and create inclusive working environments.

Such initiatives have included Babbasa's partnership with Bristol Creative Industries to create a city-wide internship programme. The initiative was designed to help young people (18-24yrs) from underrepresented backgrounds into paid roles within the creative sector and has just seen its first cohort of 14 start roles in many of the city鈥檚 leading creative businesses.

And recently Babbasa launched 鈥極urCity203O鈥� campaign, which is aimed at supporting young people from low-income households, starting from inner city Bristol, to secure a medium salary role by 2030.

When asked how social mobility in the 海角视频 should look, Mr Osei said it is through 鈥渋ntentional collaborative working鈥�.

He explained: 鈥淚 believe there ought to be a framework for a city that wants to be intentional about social mobility, and that framework needs to bring onboard the key decision makers of the key influencers within the demand and supply side of that city鈥檚 economy. It also needs to be able to direct the flow and advise on the flow of talent and where the gaps are and advise on the intake of talent amongst employers. So not just advise, but within that framework, also have a mechanism that is actually helping preparation and placement of young people.

鈥淪o that鈥檚 the model that we鈥檝e pitched for Bristol and we think that it is working and we are calling it 鈥極urCity2030 Initiative鈥�, and we are learning from it as well as we go along. So that is what it takes for a city to transform. Undoubtedly you can鈥檛 leave out intelligence from housing, health, employment if you really want to understand the dynamics.鈥�

'Together we make up society'

Elsewhere, for its 10 year anniversary, Babbasa鈥檚 young people organised a summer party for past and present participants and hosted a lecture on what is needed to transform social mobility in the 海角视频 with professor Elliot Major.

Mr Osei, who was not born in Bristol, calls the city home after arriving in the South West to study.

He explained: 鈥淪o for myself when I came here I was a migrant, I was young, relatively young, I was trying to start education and I didn鈥檛 have any family in Bristol, I spoke with a bit more of an accent, I鈥檓 Black, and all that was to my disadvantage.

鈥淪o I was experiencing the challenges first hand in a city like Bristol, but at the same time I also hadn鈥檛 been in the system for so long that I didn't think that there isn鈥檛 hope. I thought there was still hope.鈥�

He continued: 鈥淪o by trying to help myself and the young people that were hanging out on the street. I used to live on Bouverie Street, which is the back end of Stapleton Road. I thought 鈥榟ey why don鈥檛 we support each other鈥�. And that is how Babbasa started.鈥�

Prior to starting Babbasa, Mr Osei had never done any charity work but said it was 鈥減ressing on my consciousness to do right by myself and right by other people鈥�.

He continued: 鈥淚t was clearly a very painful process, trying to pull up any enterprise in a painful process. Only about 20% will survive, let alone when you are trying to develop a social enterprise where the financial model is not proven or even known.鈥�

Babbasa has stood the test of time and as it celebrates 10 years, Mr Osei said there is still a 鈥渂ig culture shift that needs to happen in Bristol鈥�. Although some organisations are making movements, they are only doing it because they 鈥渘eed to be seen doing it鈥�. Going forward, Mr Osei would like to see more purposeful initiatives.

He added that inequality does not start and stop in Bristol.

鈥淚nequality is unfortunately a by-product of capitalism,鈥� he said. Going forward Babbasa wants to explore closing that gap.

Mr Osei continued: 鈥淚 think over the space of 10 years we are likely not to just stop nationally. The view is that other parts of this globe need our support. So I suspect we are likely to have at least one operation in the Southern Hemisphere of the world. That is the trajectory really. Transforming more lives.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭here is a role for every single human being to play if we want to have a thriving, beautiful and inclusive city.鈥�