Youth mentoring organisation given ‘priceless’ support from business initiative

The passionate founder of an award-winning organisation is looking forward to helping more young people after receiving £12,000 of valuable business support from a Hertfordshire initiative.

Ashley Howard set up Forever Young People three years ago to provide youth mentoring programmes in Welwyn Garden City to help inspire the youth of the community to feel valued and confident in their abilities.

With a 13-year background in the youth sector, Ashley knew exactly what he wanted to do, but with no experience in running a company, he enrolled on the Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneur Foundation for help.

He said: “The birth of this organisation was a dream come true for me. I have worked and volunteered in a number of different settings over the past 10 years or more to help me get the experience to create the programmes Forever Young People provides.

“But when it came to employing staff and looking at tax and different policies, I’ll admit I was out of my comfort zone.”

The Chamber’s Entrepreneur Foundation brings together enterprising individuals who need support to turn their concepts into reality over a two-year programme of mentoring and training provided by its founders and supporters, including Robert Voss, Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, and Chamber members.

“I applied for a place on the programme when I realised that having the drive to make my idea come to life was not going to be enough by itself. And it has been pivotal to the growth of Forever Young People.

“I found myself sitting in rooms with people I wouldn’t ordinarily have met. The networking opportunities were huge and helped give me a lot of confidence.

“As someone who grew up without any positive male role models, having these experienced businessmen listen to me was priceless. It sounds like such a simple thing but it made a big difference.

“I have met some great people. I know if I needed to reach out to one of them, they would be there for me to give me advice. The Chamber is such a well-respected organisation and everyone has been so supportive.”

Ashley is now into his third year of studying psychotherapy as he looks to extend the work of the organisation to reach more youngsters.

Julian Carter, CEO of the Chamber, said: “Ashley was honest enough with himself to know what he doesn’t know and seek help. Why make the same mistakes that have gone before? The Entrepreneur Foundation is there to provide constructive and unbiased advice to budding entrepreneurs from all industries and I am delighted that Ashley has found it so useful in developing his organisation. Although there is a wealth of information online, each business is different, and this is where the Entrepreneur Foundation can really help.”