Karren Brady pictured in London
(Picture: PA)The Apprentice star Karren Brady has called on companies to broaden their talent pool by backing our campaign to upskill jobless young people, saying that “someone took a gamble on me when I was 18” and that it’s incumbent on business leaders “to give disadvantaged youngsters a leg-up”.
The vice-chairman of West Ham United said that our £1 million Skill Up Step Up initiative in partnership with Barclays LifeSkills is what the capital needs to help young people “build their confidence” and embolden employers to widen their recruitment channels.
So far, 280 jobs or apprenticeships have been pledged by more than 40 companies to disadvantaged young adults supported by our campaign with 127 young people already being trained by one of our five upskilling charity partners.
The Conservative life peer, who grew up near the Spurs stadium in north London, said she wanted more young people and companies to come forward.
“Many young people say to me, ‘I don’t know what my passion is’, but I say, it’s not as if it’s fallen down the back of the sofa, you’ve got to find it. And the way you find it is by acquiring core skills and getting as much work experience as possible.”
She added: “I had one ambition when I was younger and that was to be independent. I spent years at boarding school — you go to bed when you’re told, eat what you’re told, spend your life doing what you’re told — so by 18 I wanted to make my own decisions. I realised that meant I needed my own money and that it starts with a job.”
But Baroness Brady, 52, said that like many of the youngsters our campaign is boosting, she initially faced rejection.
“I got knocked back a few times. I wanted to go to journalism school after A-levels and applied to Harlow College and got turned down and I was rejected from a Saturday job at Waitrose among other things. But I was ambitious and determined and I kept ploughing on.”
Her first job was as a trainee at advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, but by 23 she had audaciously convinced her new employer, David Sullivan, owner of the Sunday Sport, to buy Birmingham City, then in receivership, and to let her run it.
Thursday the business executive, said to be worth more than £85 million, is also chair of the Barclays LifeSkills programme, which has helped 15 million young people gain vital life skills, and her advice to unemployed youth is don’t be afraid to fail.
“My message is sign up to the Skill Up Step Up programme because it will give you the confidence to become employable. You build ambition out of confidence and a career out of ambition, but it all starts with those brave first steps.”
Employers, she added, should use our campaign to energise their workforce.
“The issue for business is that if you have too many people from the same background and level of education, you don’t get enough diversity of thought or people who can challenge you with different ways of doing things. At West Ham, we had a young guy who had issues and who went on our entry level programme and he’s now graduated from university and he’s a doctor.”
Brady said: “Everyone needs a leg up in life. My grandmother used to say — never look down on people unless you are helping them up.”
