Sadie Sharp from The Platform Project - Summer Q&A 2021

Let's continue to celebrate the variety of business owners we have in our region and beyond. Today we're talking to Sadie Sharp, managing director of The Platform Project, which specialises in helping young people build their confidence, skills and experience in order to move into work or self-employment.

JUNE is the first month of Summer – what will you be doing this summer in your organisation?

The summer months are an exciting time for us this year – we have recently launched our new Internship programme and will be offering it as a summer school style short programme for all the young people leaving school without anything to move into yet. 

We’ve condensed our youth led business projects down to a creative eight week programme where young people can come and run a magazine, design printed goods, manage social media marketing campaigns, organise a fundraising event, or even launch their own bespoke business. 

We’re trying to provide an accelerated platform where young people can figure out what they like doing, build their CV, and launch themselves into their dream career….all in eight weeks! Exciting times ahead…

What are your personal plans for summer activities if you feel happy to share? 

Personally I’m looking forward to spending more time with family and friends now we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel after COVID19 – like everyone else I have really felt like this past year has been intense, so some more social time is long overdue!

Does June hold any particular significance for you or your/organisation? 

June, July and August are the final quarter of our 4th year of trading since we launched in 2017, and our journey has been immense. 

Looking back now it was only about 18 months ago when it was just me and a part time apprentice running a single project on Saturday mornings. 

Now we have 12 staff, seven projects, a huge office, around 20 interns, and our funding has tripled this past year. We’re trying to scale up as fast as possible to help all the young people needing help to get into work after the effects of COVID. 

June is National Smile Month. With that in mind, what things in your organisation make you smile? 

1) The fact that every member of our team feels like a member of the family, so coming to work doesn’t feel like work!

2) That we regularly do stupid crazy stuff – just last month I did an obstacle course dressed in an inflatable dinosaur suit and got sent to Morrisons for milk in a Tigger onesie…#NoShame

3) That I have the privilege of seeing young people doing various little dances of joy when they surprise themselves and get a job so quickly after joining us.

Are there any things in business generally which make you ‘less smiley’?

After thinking about this question for a good ten minutes I’ve come to the conclusion that there actually isn’t anything that breaks my smile! 

I’m incredibly fortunate to be running such an amazing organisation working with amazing staff and volunteers and helping amazing young people…it really is all very sickeningly amazing! 

June is often associated in nature with growth and abundance – what are your plans for growth in your organisation this year? 

Our growth is on track to be as incessant as usual! Our new shorter internship programme means that we can help even more young people into work more quickly, and we will most likely be launching new youth led businesses so watch this space!

As we hit this mid point in 2021 and we’re still coming out of the pandemic – which one business has really supported or helped you over the last quarter? 

Ntegra are a local IT services company and they have nominated us as their community partner for the year – and it’s been a godsend! In addition to their generous salary sacrifice donations they have helped us with social media marketing, mentored our interns and trained our Kickstarter staff on things like redesigning our website, as well as running lunch and learn training sessions on using Teams so our interns can bolster their work skills. 

Their CEO Andy Langley has also been helping us develop our IT and technology infrastructure so that we can professionalise our operations and really scale up like a corporate business, just with our charitable mission at heart! 

So Ntegra have been our COVID heroes this past quarter – thank you!

Have you got any events planned for the coming months which you’d like to mention – where you and/or your business will take a leading role? 

We are adding more employer and professional links to our internship programme, where we are bringing industry professionals in to pass on some of their skills to our interns, or even just recording a short video about their job role and career journey to get into it, so if you would like to help young people find their feet in life then just email us on [email protected] to get involved. 

Have you got any summer services or special offers you’d like to mention? 

Our summer Internship programme is available to any young person aged 17 to 21 needing help to find work, go self-employed or work out what career they would like to take before choosing further education options. 

If anyone is interested they can email [email protected] or see www.PlatformProject.co.uk for more information. 

And finally: 

We’re on a mission to provide young people with a platform to succeed, and we’d love you to join us! If you would like to get involved, or know someone who might benefit from our programme, please do just get in touch. 

For more information visit www.PlatformProject.co.uk.