Entrepreneurs Unlocked Collaborates With The Manchester Youth Zone To Help 14-19-year-olds Develop Their Business Ideas.

Sandrine Beaunol, careers and enterprise manager at Manchester Youth Zone, launched the Hatch Talent Programme to engage young people aged 14-19 in the community who may be disengaged from school or college or struggling with academic subjects. It aims to inspire, engage, and prevent young people from dropping out of school or college.

What Is The Hatch Talent Programme?

The Hatch Talent Programme draws on young people’s passions and interests. It helps them develop existing business ideas, create new ones, and put the ideas into reality.

Sandrine Beaunol recognised that the Programmes that David Morgan and Entrepreneurs Unlocked were running with prison leavers could be adapted to fit her objectives, to engage and connect with the young people attending Manchester Youth Zone.

Sandrine said: “We needed someone who had expertise in business enterprise, who was practical in their approach, and essentially, someone who could interestingly simplify business concepts and practicalities.

“David speaks to our young people in a clear and straightforward language that they understand, and crucially, he doesn’t have an academic approach, which can often be a negative for our young people. David is an expert in his field with experience working with people with challenges on the fringes of society. He knows how to listen to people’s needs and connects with them.”

David Morgan said: “When I first met with Sandrine, she explained what she was looking to achieve with the young people at Manchester Youth Zone, and I knew that I could help, and I was excited to get involved.

“My work with Entrepreneurs Unlocked and prison leavers means that I often work with people with difficulties and sometimes with challenging behaviour. However, these people have talents and passions like the rest of us, and it is my job to help them to turn their talents into businesses and to give them the tools to do this.”

There are 18 young people on the Hatch Talent Programme, which is set to run until the Summer, with more courses planned for the Autumn. One of the young people attending the course is Amelia McCallum, 16, who has developed a business producing unique cushions decorated with album covers, which incorporate a QR code that links directly through to Spotify. Amelia is already demonstrating that her business idea can be successful, with interest from several potential customers.

Amelia McCallum said: “I have learnt of the value of having a business to earn my own money, and I have experienced what goes on behind the scenes to bring the product to the market.”

Ireti Gbadebo-Braimah, 16, who is working towards becoming a hairstylist, said: “I realise I can use my skills to plan and be organised, which is important to my ambition of becoming a hairstylist.”

To learn more about The Hatch Talent Programme and other initiatives within the Careers and Enterprise Hub within the Manchester Youth Zone, contact Sandrine Beaunol at sandrine.beaunol@manchesteryz.org.