Bristol Babbasa CEO honoured for work with young people

Babbasa helps young people from ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds start their career journeys

A university graduate has said the help she received from an organisation to kickstart her career, changed her life.

Babbasa is a social enterprise that helps young people from ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds in Bristol start their journey into work.

Founder and CEO Poku Osei recently received a Cambridge Social Innovation Prize for his services.

Alaya Holloway, 24, said the award is "well deserved" and thanked him for helping her on a "multitude of levels".

She said she connected with Mr Osei after she moved from Wales to Bristol to be the first person in her family to go to university, but found she had no network to help her pursue a career in the legal sector.

Ms Holloway said Mr Osei was "a light" in her career journey

"They offered me a mentor who was a senior lawyer and helped me carve out a career path," she said.

"It was the first time I started to think, 'this is actually possible'.

"Navigating university without anyone can make you feel like you're in the dark but they felt like the light on my journey."

She said she has since been able to turn her "challenges into wisdom" and start her own company called First Gens, which supports students who are the first in their family to attend university.

Mr Osei said: "It's a joy to see the young people we supported coming back as independent adults"

"It really is a full circle.

"I feel like Poku's award is extremely well deserved, he just does this out of pure love and that really ripples through the community. His work continues to impact the community on a multitude of levels," she added.

Mr Osei said Babbasa has always been about older people coming together as a "support bridge" for those in need.

"People say I must be proud of this person who got this job at the BBC or this engineering company, but I'm equally proud of the young person who couldn't move from their room due to social anxiety and - through working with us - developed self-worth," he said.

"It's a joy to see the young people we supported coming back as independent adults, mentoring and helping other young people to get opportunities."

He said it was "humbling" to have been chosen for the award.