Featherstone High, Southall
“I live in quite a rough area; there are lots of crimes and it’s not the best place to grow up in. There’s always the temptation to join gangs and do drugs- it’s so easy to do it and the temptation is always there. You can even get dragged into crimes like robbing people if you’re not strong enough to say no.
I heard about Young Enterprise through school and I thought I could use my time with it; it sounded good and worthwhile. I was studying business anyway so went along and tried it out and found it so interesting- we had a chairman and a CEO and everything!
For me personally, I know a lot of people come from Southall and it is dangerous but where I come from you can actually see the stuff happening in front of your face; people getting robbed and you can’t say anything because they know you. Those are the hardships you are faced with but YEL gives you a way out.
I became the CEO of my company a few weeks after joining up and was able to do things my way- I thrived on that; being in charge I felt I could get somewhere. I started to feel really good about myself. I can actually become someone else in life. I’m so much more mature because of YEL; more responsible. I’m also a police cadet now as well and have come out of YEL with so much business knowledge.
I’m better off because of the experience and if we had something like that on the streets maybe it might help the youths to see there’s more out there than the life they have. A lot of teenagers are coming out with no GCSE’s and going on the dole and think they’re useless but what they need to realise if you put your mind to it, you can get there. People need support and YEL provides that. They motivate you. I am now going on to do a plumber’s apprenticeship and am grateful for everything YEL has taught me.
