BYEP, the Bristol-based social enterprise dedicated to empowering young people to advance in employability and enterprise skills, kicks off its innovative mentoring programme Ask About Me next Saturday with a unique dinner and networking event.
Ask About Me connects professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders with aspiring young people keen to learn about diverse career options and the different pathways to them.
The six-month programme starts with the dinner and networking event to bring the professionals and young people together then continues with the BYEP programme of guidance and support for all mentor-mentee relationships. 
BYEP director and programme manager Poku Osei said: “Mentoring is a powerful tool in the development of any career and Ask About Me creates a vital opportunity for young people, particularly from Bristol’s deprived inner city communities, to secure mentors and acquire practical insight from a wide variety of industries.”
The inaugural Ask About Me programme which took place in 2012/13 was a huge success with more than 200 people involved and key highlights such as:
- 12 unemployed young people acquired work experience as volunteers on the project
- 80 young people fed back positively – feeling inspired and informed about diverse career options, opportunities and pathways to various industries
- Four young people were offered work experience roles at the event
- Nine young people were invited to apply for existing vacancies at local firms, out of which four were successful in getting the jobs.
- 76.2% of the professionals who completed the event feedback forms indicated that the event enabled them to establish at least one new voluntary sector or business contact.
- Four young people secured work experience and paid employment during the mentoring scheme through the networks of their respective mentors.
Ask About Me also serves as platform for local professionals to foster new business and community relations in Bristol. The 2014/15 programme has the support of Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson, who will attend the event, along with other inspirational speakers and special guests including national FGM youth lead Fahma Mohamed, Southmead-born millionaire and entrepreneur Dr Stephen Fear, BBC Bristol managing director Tim Pemberton, poet Steve Duncan, politician and NHS lead Marvin Rees and Bristol West MP Stephen Williams.
Dr Fear, a keen supporter, said: “Ask About Me is a unique nurturing platform for the next generation of social and business leaders. Not just for the local communities but for the prosperity and status of Bristol as a whole. It was easy for me to get involved with such a progressive programme.”
The dinner is on Saturday October 25 from 5pm-10pm at the Holiday Inn, Bristol.
Tickets are £25 and are available from www.byep.org.uk or by calling 07930 147193.
