Fount of ambition

Discussing the influences on her early career aspirations, Barbara Kasumu giggles.

The chief executive of youth employment charity Elevation Networks is slightly embarrassed by her admission that fictional lawyer Ally McBeal played a central role in shaping her ambitions. But the fact that an eccentric TV character left a bigger impression than real life figures is hardly surprising given her experiences of careers advice.

Chatting in her charity’s central London base, which it shares with the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), Kasumu is candidly critical of the advice she received in her formative years, and the way a “lack of connections” threatened to hamper her career journey. She describes her fleeting experience of careers guidance prior to picking her GCSE subjects as “the most depressing hour of my life”.

“I had my heart set on being a lawyer,” she says. “But when I told this to the careers adviser, the response I got was along the lines of ‘you know you have to be intelligent to do that’ and ‘are you sure it’s what you want to do?’”

Nevertheless, Kasumu’s determination against the odds has seen her prosper in the field of advocacy and she was named the SMK Young Activist of the Year 2009, at the age of 22.

Although her parents were supportive and played a “big role” in Kasumu’s desire to succeed, she says the help they could offer was limited by their own experience.

High expectations
“My parents had very high expectations for all of us and not going to university was never an option,” she says. “But encouraging me to stay in education was all they could do. They were not necessarily able to provide the advice or networks. I had to do that myself.”

After getting involved in volunteering with organisations including the British Youth Council (BYC) and Oxfam, Kasumu conceived Elevation Networks in 2006 alongside co-founder Samuel Kasumu (who she married in March), while both were still studying. The organisation formally launched in 2008, becoming a charity in 2009.

It aims to make sure young people get the help, advice and support they need to realise their ambitions; the kind of help that some, but not all children receive when growing up.

“The idea was born out of barriers we felt we faced as students,” she says. “I felt I hadn’t had the best advice. We weren’t really surrounded by people who wanted to help and we felt there was a lot of work to be done. We felt there was an ‘old boys’ network’ that some people had access to, but others didn’t.

“We didn’t necessarily want to break it, but rather expand it beyond the usual beneficiaries.”

The charity works with 11- to 25-year-olds, split up into age ranges of 11 to 14, 14 to 19 and 19 to 25 in three core areas – networks; mentoring; and skills such as employability and leadership.

It specifically focuses on “under-represented groups” – ethnic minorities, women, non-Russell Group universities, low social economic backgrounds and young people not in education, employment or training – but is committed to helping all groups.

There is an evident need for the work of the charity, given the prospective outcomes for some of the young people it works with.

“If you are from an ethnic minority and you are a woman, you are three times more likely [than the average person] to be unemployed on leaving university,” Kasumu says. “It’s a scary fact.”

Around 8,000 young people have been engaged so far by the charity, with 4,000 young people receiving some form of skills training since 2009.

There is a core staff of just six, but it boasts around 70 student volunteers and has built up around 100 mentors who work in a range of fields. Over the past year the charity has helped place 150 people on an internship or into a job.

Kasumu is determined that the charity will expand to help more young people in the future, but is also adamant that more fundamental measures are necessary.

“There is an issue of properly preparing people for the world of work,” she says.

“My education was geared towards preparing for exams. In secondary schools, with the cuts to Connexions and with no funding for information, advice and guidance, there is a big problem. There have been instances where I have spoken to secondary school pupils and they say there is no compulsory work experience at the moment. All those kinds of things matter when you are picking your GCSEs or A levels.”

Real life experiences
Kasumu is adamant that there must be people whose sole role is as a careers adviser, and says any careers service should be complemented by the input of people from different sectors who can visit schools to give their real life experiences. She also argues that more work needs to take place with parents to emphasise the importance of advice, and to equip them with the tools to be able to give it.

“Parents need to be equipped enough to advise their children,” she says. “Parent evenings could be better utilised to give parents advice. We did a study of information and advice with the National Youth Agency, looking at where children get their advice from, and parents are still up there.”

In order to broaden its work and help more young people, identifying new forms of funding will be essential. Initial funding for Elevation Networks was secured from the private sector, with partners including Barclays Capital, HSBC and Deloitte. Kasumu stresses the importance of generating fresh finance streams.

“For us, it’s now about adjusting to the current climate,” she says. “You can’t really have one income stream. It is about looking at the policy of the day and aligning ourselves to that.”

The early signs are promising. The charity has successfully bid to launch the recently announced National Citizen Service week-long autumn pilot, working with 96 young people across three London boroughs. It is also bidding to run a longer National Citizen Service summer programme next year as the project continues to expand.

Meanwhile, a contract with Barnet Council to help young people who are not in education, employment or training was recently secured.

The charity also works alongside Work Programme providers Action for Employment (A4e) and G4S as a specialist provider of employment services.

In addition, Kasumu says it is looking to get involved with delivery of the Youth Contract – providing extra support for 16- and 17-year-olds on a payment-by-results basis.

The charity’s income for this financial year (2012/13) is forecast at around £250,000, but Kasumu estimates this will rise to more than £1m in 2013/14 should current bids to provide services be successful.

Expansion plans involve doing more work across England and establishing a hub in the Midlands to extend the organisation’s reach.

Kasumu is optimistic that the charity’s plans can lead to growth that will help young people to achieve their goals. The expansion of mentoring capacity will be key to this and the charity is engaging with the private sector ?to this end.

“We need to create a culture of wanting to give back among companies,” she says. “If a company that employs 12,000 people was able to say that each and every employee was mentoring a young person it would have an amazing impact both for the company and young people. It’s really important, whether or not a mentor is in your career field, to have someone who can share their experience and success and the lessons they have learned from things that haven’t gone right.

“When you look at people who are high up, their life seems very detached from yours, until you hear their stories – your confidence increases. A lot of the time the issue young people face is not ability but confidence.”


Barbara Kasumu CV

• Barbara Kasumu studied politics at Queen Mary, University of London, before completing a master’s degree in international public policy at University College London
• A founding member of Elevation Networks, she has represented the UK at a number of international meetings including the G8 and G20 summits in Canada 2010
• She is an associate for the National Youth Agency, consulting and training on youth development strategy, and has previously worked with the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) to help to improve practice and policy regarding the inclusiveness of young people in promoting local democracy
• She has also worked with the Commonwealth Youth Programme, DFID Youth Working Group, the British Council, Oxfam, and youth charity Changemakers
• She was named the SMK Young Activist of the Year in 2009