The Junior Apprentice is a youth project designed to help develop business and leadership skills.
For three weeks young people battled it out over a series of team challenges (including Product Branding, Social Action, Running a Market Stall, and Create a Business Enterprise) that developed, taught, inspired each individual bringing out their talents in a fun, safe way. After the initial three weeks, there were on-going workshops, mentoring, IAG (Information, Advice & Guidance) and work experience opportunities throughout the year.
47 young people aged between 13 and 19 took part in the project in Lambeth and Southwark in 2012, culminating in five of the participants being placed on week long work experience placements, and references being provided for three of the participants who secured jobs.
“Winning the junior apprentice 2012 didn’t feel like winning really. It felt like achieving and take one big step in life. Normally as a kid growing up in south London it is hard. Not a lot of opportunities are presented to us, if we want them we will have to go out there into the big working world and find it ourselves. However the Junior Apprentice allowed me to not only teach myself very important life skills but also prepare me on how to grasp every opportunity that comes my way.”
Malachi Hamden - Junior Apprentice Winner