PAST WINNER INTERVIEW Babbasa Youth Empowerment Projects CIC
Company Background Babbasa launched in 2013 with a simple vision to help young disadvantaged people realise their career ambitions. The Bristol-based social enterprise impacts on the lives of young (16- 25 years) Black, Asian, and minority ethnic people experiencing persistently high levels of unemployment, low educational attainment and declining aspirations in Bristol’s most deprived inner-city communities. Babbasa empowers minoritised young people from these communities to move into work, further education or enterprise, while supporting businesses to recruit and enhance a more diverse and inclusive workforce. The organisation supports young people through its core strengths-based programmes: ‘Support’, ‘Challenge’ and ‘Placement’; offering a mix of one-to-one coaching, soft skills training, experiential challenge, peer-to-peer role model advocacy, professional mentoring, career- oriented events, and personalised recruitment support. Along with building work-readiness, AWARD CATEGORY: Social Mobility Through Promoting Opportunity SIZE OF COMPANY: 17 staff in 2022 (eight staff at the time of applying in 2020). WHERE BASED: Bristol TYPE OF BUSINESS: Youth Empowerment & Employability Social Enterprise PROFILE: Poku Osei JOB TITLE: CEO and Founder
What planning did you do beforehand?
this approach nurtures the well-being and self-worth needed to help young minoritised people progress into meaningful occupations. What made Babbasa Youth Empowerment Projects CIC apply for a Queen’s Award? We have known of the Queen’s Award for many years as it is highly-regarded and respected within the voluntary sector, social enterprises and wider community. We decided it was a timely juncture to apply in terms of our growth and the lasting impact we were seeing, and felt confident that we met the overriding criteria for “social mobility through promoting opportunity”. What research did you do about the awards/ application process? After carefully reading the criteria, we reflected upon our organisational culture since our inception and our impact over the last two years. We could see from former recipients that the Award is a high accolade.
We had recently published our two-year Impact Report which formed an important part of our application in terms of evidencing the effectiveness of our interventions and access to work opportunities.
How did you find the application process?
The application process was straightforward and it was refreshing to have concise and intuitive questioning with the focus on proof of innovation, organisation culture and impact as part of the process. Did you learn anything about your own com- pany during the process? The application helped the organisation to stand back, take stock and affirm our social mobility impact.
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