A year ago 21-year-old Natalie was struggling. A refugee from the war in Congo who had arrived in London in 1996, she left school at 16 with no qualifications, zero confidence and a young son to bring up.
"Life was very hard," she recalls. "I felt like I was on a road to nowhere because I couldn't get a job. I'm a single parent and my son is autistic, which was difficult to come to terms with."
But during a routine conversation her Connexions adviser suggested the Prince's Trust Get Into Hospitality course - a quick apprenticeship - and she was soon joining up with other young hopefuls at Chelsea Football Club's Millennium Hotel. From the 27 young people who started out she was one of six to be picked for a two-week course and then one of the lucky ones who got offered a job at the end of it. "The course was great, it lasted two weeks and it is one of the best things I have ever done," says Natalie.
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