By Will Tyler
In April we marked Responsible Business Week, so we’ve decided to follow that up by telling you more about some of our work investing in the future. As a company, we work with several local programmes that give young people the opportunity to gain work experience and employability skills.
One of the important issues that has been highlighted throughout campaigns for the 2015 General Election is how the UK can help young people to secure a better future for themselves. At Octink we believe that it is crucial for businesses to support local community initiatives and programmes that address the problem, and which make a real difference to people’s lives. Indeed, investing in the future talent that will run our companies and ensure our success is high on our agenda!
Spark! – the Hounslow Education Business Charity – is one such organisation that oversees a host of initiatives that make a positive impact on the local community. The charity strives to find inspiring opportunities for young people in the borough to gain work experience, understand the labour market and develop confident enterprise and employability skills.
As the Chairman of Spark! and CEO of Octink, I’m extremely proud of the work that Octink does with them. We regularly host events aimed at introducing young people to the world of work and to the display and graphics industry in particular. These ‘Industry Insight Days’ enable them to learn about the different kinds of roles and career paths in the industry, as well as to find out how their school subjects link to the world of work.
We’re in the process of working with Spark! to organise an Industry Insight Day for sixth form students from several different colleges in the area this summer. It is always fulfilling for us a business to see the young people we host on these days engaging so readily with our industry, so we’re looking forward to this event.
To find out more about Spark! and the fantastic work it does for West London’s young people, please visit http://sparklondon.org/.