Education United Kingdom Project #11645

Changing the lives of 2000 young people in the UK

by The King's Trust

Changing the lives of 2000 young people in the UK

Project Report | Jun 18, 2013
Another success story made possible with your help

By Georgia Bridgwood | Individual Giving Executive

Peter receiving an award for enterprise

Video here.

Peter encountered difficulty in secondary school while dealing with bouts of anxiety and stress. He moved between numerous children’s homes, boarding schools and secure units, and this instability badly affected his education, leaving him without basic communication and numeracy skills.

During this time, Peter discovered a passion for wildlife. He began to see a positive future in starting his own pest control company, but with missed school time and no solid working experience within the industry, he felt this was perhaps too much of an undertaking.

Facing financial insecurity, depression and isolation owing to his rural location, Peter enrolled on The Trust’s Enterprise programme, a course for young people who need support and funding to realise their business potential.

With the help of a business mentor Peter developed his business knowledge and the got the support he to set up his company, PGH Pest Control and Prevention. The process enabled Peter to overcome his difficulties with numeracy and literacy, which counted a long way towards getting him on his feet.

Since his engagement with The Trust, Peter’s communication skills have improved too, allowing him to form successful client relationships. The business has massively exceeded its financial targets, and Peter is looking at the possibility of diversifying into other areas to meet demand from his regular customers.

Your donation could pay for the written materials used by a talented young person like Peter who needs guidance to set up their own business.

Links:

Prince's Trust website

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Mar 28, 2013
Celebrating the success of young achievers

By Georgia Bridgwood | Individual Giving Executive

In March The Prince's Trust held the national finals of our annual Celebrate Success Awards, in which we recognise the successes of our most inspirational young people, and the people who helped them get where they are today. The winner of our Young Achiever of the Year Award was Afsana Benozir, here is her story:

At the age of 10, Afsana’s behaviour began to change dramatically. She refused to play with friends and her increasing withdrawal impacted greatly on all aspects of her life.

Her condition deteriorated to such an extent that by age 12 she was self-harming and displaying violent mood swings. By now her family believed they had lost all control of Afsana and as time passed their relationship suffered. She later survived two suicide attempts.

After the second incident she admitted herself to hospital where she received psychiatric assessment. Following these events, medical leave took her out of education and Afsana gave up any aspirations she had held. After nine months of weekly psychotherapy sessions Afsana was finally ready to reveal the root of her problems; from the age of six she had suffered serious abuse from a family friend.

Additional conflict at home prompted Afsana to move out and it was here that a Support Worker referred her to The Prince's Trust. She attended a 12-week personal development course helping young people build confidence and workplace skills. Despite mixing with the wrong crowd, the potential within this intelligent girl was still apparent.

During the course, Afsana initially displayed hostile behaviour, but soon she developed greater tolerance to others while coming to understand the importance of qualities like commitment and self-respect. Perhaps most notably she also began to trust people once more.

Finishing The Prince’s Trust programme was a huge achievement for Afsana and it gave her the confidence to complete a recent Medical and Biomedicine college course with distinctions. Now in possession of the required grades, she plans to follow a long-held dream to become a doctor by applying to study medicine at university. The confident and positive 20-year-old says:

"Hand on heart, if it wasn’t for the support and experience I received from The Prince's Trust, I would most likely not be here today."

Links:

See Afsana's story in her own words

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Dec 20, 2012
Changing the lives of 1000 young people

By Georgia Bridgwood | Individual Giving Executive

The Prince's Trust has had a very successful few months. In October we held an 'Against the Odds' youth forum where some of our celebrity ambassadors gave frank and pragmatic advice and encouragement to young people needing inspiration as to how to start a successful career. We streamed the event online and it had an impressive 660 viewers.

In December we held our London and South East region Celebrate Success Awards, which showcased some of the biggest transformations young people in that area had achieved with the help of The Prince's Trust. One such example was Peter Higgs, who won the RBS Enterprise Award in recognition of the success of his business PGH Pest Control and Prevention. 24-year-old Peter encountered personal difficulty in secondary school while dealing with adverse psychological issues. The resultant bouts of anxiety and stress caused his move between numerous children’s homes, boarding schools and secure units, badly affecting his education and leaving him without basic communication and numeracy skills. Facing financial insecurity, depression and rural isolation owing to his remote location, Peter enrolled on The Prince’s Enterprise Programme, a programme for young people interested in realising their business potential.

About Enterprise, Peter said: “I learnt a lot on the course, from marketing to accounting, and it was great to see other young people in the same situation with similar aspirations.” The Prince’s Trust provided Peter with far-reaching business knowledge and the support he needed in the subsequent formation of his company, PGH Pest Control and Prevention. Additional help was offered in the creation of a website detailing the company and its services. Peter says, "I felt lost, without any effective support and help. But The Prince's Trust helped me make it all happen."

Our Enterprise programme helps over 10,000 people like Peter each year with the business mentor support and financial backing they need to develop confidence and independence by setting up their own enterprise. We're proud of what we've achieved, but there is still so much to be done. Youth unemployment remains at around one million in the UK, and each day 100 more people turn to The Prince's Trust for help. Please help us to keep up the hard work and help 1,000 more disadvantaged young people to change their lives for the better.

Links:

http://goo.gl/HyT3i

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