Swale Charity fights unemployment with opportunities for young entrepreneurs
Thanet, Dover, Folkestone and Swale, have some of the highest rates of unemployed young people the South East. One charity claims this is due to a lack of resources, rather than a lack of ambition among young people. Finn Macdiarmid reports.
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00:00Young people make up 17% of all unemployed people in Kent, which, as a county, is a worse
00:05average than the rest of the country.
00:08And the county holds four of the top five spots in the South East, with districts like
00:13Thanet, Gravesham, Dover and Swale all being above the national average of unemployment
00:17in Great Britain.
00:19Organisations like NCS and The Student Room aim to help students find jobs, but for those
00:23who might be older or not suited to university or apprenticeships, one charity is doing things
00:27differently.
00:28Launch It aims to support groups of young creatives and innovators, giving them the
00:32space and resources to be able to invest into their business ventures, and they have a headquarters
00:37in Swale, one of the higher locations, for the number of youths unemployed.
00:41Launch It are here for people between the age of 18 to 30 who are unemployed who want
00:47to work their way out of poverty by starting up their own business.
00:51So they may come here with just a lightbulb moment, or they may come here with a business
00:56that they've been running, but just need a bit of a kickstart with it.
01:00So we're here to help young people realise their dreams through self-employment.
01:06One of those young people is Liam, who runs his sustainable clothing brand, English Pharoahs,
01:11from his own dedicated office in the Launch It HQ.
01:14Since starting Launch It, I've been set up with a mindset work coach, which has really
01:23helped me, because I used to be withdrawn, and within six months I have become so much
01:30more comfortable when speaking to new people and meeting everyone else.
01:35Liam came to the organisation in February with his idea, and built it from just an idea
01:40into a reality, with his current efforts going towards launching the project.
01:45On the other hand, some came to Launch It with an idea they were already creating, but
01:48just needed a helping hand.
01:50Sheppey is Ours, a community project that aims to promote social progressiveness and
01:54environmental improvements, was a few years old, and had a group of volunteers before
01:58it was brought to Launch It.
02:00I just honestly don't think it'd be happening without that sort of dedicated space, without
02:03again being able to bump ideas off of people.
02:07Literally yesterday I had Carys from, who's again offices just over there, what we do,
02:13and despite the fact we are very different sort of thing, I'm running a, well, soon to
02:18be a CIO, she's running a dog walking business, however we're still, you know, bouncing ideas
02:23off each other, having these conversations, which I don't think would happen without a
02:26place like Launch It.
02:28While jobs are getting harder and harder to find for the young, for some, being self-employed
02:32is pushing them to be the best they can be.
02:34Finn McDermott for KMTV in Swale.