Interview: Seyi Obakin, Centrepoint chief executive

A formative career in financial services is an unlikely grounding to run a charity for disadvantaged young people. However, Seyi Obakin’s experience in banking could be crucial over the coming months as all charities grapple with the financial challenges presented by Covid-19. Obakin, who was raised in Nigeria, has spent more than a decade as chief executive of youth homelessness charity Centrepoint, after making the jump from the private sector to housing associations in the mid-1990s. During his time at Centrepoint he has overseen a period of sustained growth for the charity, which provides accommodation, health support and life skills for young people aged 16-25, and last year celebrated its 50th anniversary. In 2018/19 it provided services to more than 15,000 young people across London, Manchester and the North East. Its last set of accounts showed that in the year to March 2019, income increased from £32.7m to £34m, with expenditure rising by £1.1m to £32.8m.