We’re very proud to join our founding partners at FastFutures, the UK’s leading digital skills and employability programme for diverse young people, in celebrating our 2,000+ programme graduates to date.
Partnering to ensure diverse students are prepared in a digital age
Designed to appeal to and prioritise underrepresented groups using a transformative approach, FastFutures is helping to address inequalities across the workforce.
To date, two cohorts of participants 18-24 years of age have been through the 12-week programme built by Avado, which focuses on helping to ensure learners from diverse backgrounds are prepared with the digital business skills to succeed.
Making a difference through personal connections
As a founding FastFutures member invested in student achievement and workforce preparedness, our UK-based teams have enjoyed supporting individual learning through providing one-to-one virtual mentoring sessions as well as sharing advice via a leadership skills building Q&A session with our senior leadership team and an interactive virtual tour of our people at work in our Mold, UK, production facility.
The programme has been a truly meaningful experience for FastFutures mentees as well as for our group of volunteer mentors, who are excited to continue sharing their experience and advice with the latest group of mentees which kicks off this summer.
"My experience with the FastFutures programme proved invaluable and exceeded my expectations," shared Chioma Abazie, member of our first FastFutures Cohort. "Firstly, my knowledge significantly enhanced in critical areas such as the power of digital and data as well as financial and accounting. Furthermore, I was able to build great connections with incredible people, including my mentor Miriam. Right from our first conversation, our mentorship sessions were highly valuable as Miriam supported me throughout the programme and I am appreciative of Fast Futures for bringing us together."
"I’ve really enjoyed getting to know my FastFutures mentees and coaching them through the 12- week programme and seeing them really grow," shared Will Ballantyne, Technical Category Manager at Tate & Lyle, and FastFutures mentor to 5 mentees to date over the 2 cohorts. "It’s been a valuable development experience on my side too, from improving my coaching skills, to getting to understand and provide personal perspective on the next generation of skilled and enthusiastic workforce and what diversity they can bring to the party. I’m looking forward to continued involvement!" Read more about one of Will’s mentees recent successes here.
We love keeping up with our recent graduates and were thrilled to hear the following success stories who are off to fantastic starts in new careers.
Chioma Abazie, FastFutures Graduate
"I first heard about Fast Futures after graduating from university and I believed it would be a great opportunity to further develop my skills in preparation for the working world.
"Having completed the Fast Futures programme, I am due to start working as an Associate within Strategy Consulting. Reflecting back, Fast Futures helped to advance both my personal and professional development and I am very excited for what the future holds."
Vaida Arlauskaitė, FastFutures Graduate
"Coming from a creative background and navigating my way through the business world made me feel slightly lost. I didn’t know what I wanted to do and didn’t feel like I was in a very strong position due to most of my prior experience being dance related.
"The most impactful part of the programme for me was definitely the 1:1 mentorship. The support and encouragement I received from my mentor Pippa Sacofsky from Tate & Lyle meant a great deal to me while applying for jobs. She helped me with getting my CV ready and doing interview prep, but most importantly, gave me some much-needed self-confidence by showing me how my skills and experience are valuable and applicable to any job. Pippa made me believe that the right opportunity will come, and it did, sooner than I expected!
"The opportunity at Google is more than I had hoped for my first job. I’m very excited to start!"
Sending our congratulations and looking ahead
Huge congratulations again to all our mentees and mentors on a successful programme so far. Here’s to continuing to learn and grow together in the months ahead!
FastFutures Programme Highlights: Read more about the programmes impact.