Leon’s Journey: From an Enterprise Idea to Building a Career in Manchester
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Progress Doesn’t Always Follow a Straight Line
At Genuine Futures, we believe success should not be measured by whether a young person follows a perfect pathway.
Sometimes an idea works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
What matters is whether a young person develops the confidence, experience and resilience to keep moving forward and recognise the opportunities available to them.
Leon’s journey is a great example.
Leon was one of the young people who participated in our Boss Your Future Salford programme, funded by Salford City Council.
The programme was designed to reconnect with young people who had become disengaged from education, employment or training and create practical pathways into employment, enterprise and further opportunities.
Exploring Enterprise
During Boss Your Future, Leon explored the possibility of working for himself.
One of the ideas he developed was Leon’s Lawn Care.
It gave him an opportunity to think about enterprise, customers, earning an income and taking responsibility for his own future.
But Leon eventually decided that lawn care was not the pathway he wanted to continue pursuing.
And that matters.
Trying something and deciding it is not right for you is not failure. It can be an important part of discovering where you want to go next.
Then We Received a Message
Some time after completing the programme, Leon got back in touch with Genuine Futures.
He sent Sam a photograph of his work alongside this message:
“Hello Sam, not sure if you remember me. I tried to start Leon’s Lawn Care but didn’t end up sticking with it. I’m now fitting carpets in the new-build towers in Deansgate and this is some of my work.”
For us, messages like this demonstrate why longer-term relationships with young people matter.
Leon had continued moving forward.
From an Idea to a Skilled Trade
Leon is now fitting carpets on new-build developments in Manchester.
He is gaining practical experience, developing trade skills and contributing to real construction projects.
The original destination changed, but the direction of travel did not.
Enterprise helped open Leon’s thinking about what was possible. Employment has now given him another route to build his future.
That is exactly why Boss Your Future focuses on the individual rather than forcing every young person through the same pathway.
What Leon’s Story Teaches Us
There is an important lesson in Leon’s journey for anyone working to tackle youth unemployment and economic inactivity.
We cannot judge a programme solely by what happens on the final day.
A young person may explore self-employment and later move into employment. Another may start work and then decide to return to college. Someone else may need several different experiences before discovering where they belong.
The important question is:
Are they moving closer to opportunity?
For Leon, the answer is clear.
He has moved from disengagement, through exploring enterprise, into employment and the development of practical skills.
Boss Your Future: Creating Pathways, Not Labels
Boss Your Future was created around a simple principle: young people need more than advice about what they should do.
They need opportunities to experience what they could do.
That means trusted relationships, practical experiences, exposure to enterprise, employers and different industries, and people who continue believing in their potential when the first plan does not work out.
Our approach focuses on:
- building confidence and aspirations;
- introducing young people to employment and enterprise;
- developing practical and transferable skills;
- connecting participants with businesses and community partners;
- creating opportunities to test ideas in the real world; and
- maintaining relationships beyond the programme itself.
Investing in Potential
Leon’s journey is not simply an employment statistic.
Behind the outcome is a young person who tried something, changed direction and kept going.
Today, he can look at the work he has completed on buildings in Manchester and say:
“I helped do that.”
That sense of achievement, belonging and purpose matters.
It is why Genuine Futures believes investment in young people should happen before disengagement becomes long-term exclusion and before preventable barriers become crises.
Leon’s story shows what can happen when young people are given the opportunity to explore, learn and move forward.
Bridging the Gap to Opportunity
Genuine Futures works with young people, local authorities, schools, employers, housing providers and community organisations to create practical pathways into employment, enterprise, education and community.
If you are an employer, funder, commissioner or community partner who wants to help us create more opportunities like Leon’s, we would like to hear from you.
If you know a young person who could benefit from Boss Your Future, you can also refer them to our programme.
Together, we can bridge the gap to opportunity.