“All hail the conquering heroes”

(Nick Price – CEO, Bright Purple)

I can’t believe that 6 month’s has already passed and our idea of taking on board and developing six Scottish youngsters from raw talent, and producing valuable contributors to society and Bright Purple is at an end for now. The time has flown by and it’s fair to say that what we have seen has been nothing short of remarkable.

In December 2011 we interviewed 12 kids who came from that piece of society the grown up world in Britain likes to talk about as ‘the lost generation,’ they arrived at Bright Purple to take part in a day of activities aimed at finding 6 genuine candidates for a competition to find 2 full time staff for our company. I remember introducing myself around the table in the Academy to 12 young people who lacked confidence, who weren’t quite sure how they should act, they often didn’t make eye contact and most definitely didn’t feel like smiling!

That day ended with us taking on board the Famous 6, Becki, Lewis, Sarah, Thomas, Deonne and Craig, as they were the ones who showed during the sessions the desire we needed to believe they were up for the challenge ahead.

January came and they started the apprenticeships in earnest and to be honest, I don’t think they’ve ever looked back and I certainly know as CEO of Bright Purple, I have never seen a group work so hard to get the job done. They have consistently shown that passion and willingness to learn, they have never let me, my colleagues or our firm down and they kept going to the end, working together like a true team.

Now the first piece of the story ends and we wanted to find 2 new Bright Purple People and guess what, we find 4! We held our final interviews with the apprentices a couple of weeks ago and then a panel consisting of Marielle (who ran the whole programme), myself and DGM (Monica and Caroline), the consultants behind the SVQ qualification each apprentice received and also the people who originally helped us identify our 6, had to make the hard call on who stays and who goes.

Those staying, Sarah, Craig, Lewis and Deonne and those going Becki and Thomas have all done fantastic jobs while here with us, they have made us all proud of the fact that they have shown that you might not be academic, but it doesn’t mean that you cant achieve. You might not have been inspired or motivated through the earlier years, but it doesn’t mean you can’t find that spark to light the fuse that sends you on a new orbit, one of achievement.

You’ll hear more from other people at Bright Purple about their experiences over the last 6 months, you’ll hear more from those staying and those going, so all I wanted to talk about was my experiences learnt from this exercise.

For me the lessons learnt are simple ones:

• Youth does have a future if you believe in them, motivate them, inspire them and let them have the freedom to show you what they are capable of.
• Further education and academic achievement while important should not be viewed as a blocker to future success or achievement of your goals and aspirations if you don’t have it!
• Age is no barrier to success if you have the desire to want to win at everything you do.
• Perceptions work both ways, how adults see youth of today and how the young view adults. Adults might think that just because a kid isn’t employed or can’t seem to find that motivation to get going that they have nothing to offer – wrong! The youngsters might think all adults have no interest in their future; senior people wouldn’t be willing to talk with them, again all wrong. One of the biggest challenges we all face on the subject of youth and their future is getting passed the perceptions we hold in our heads.
• Inspiration comes in many forms and I have been inspired purely by the passion and desire of 6 youngsters to prove their worth to my organisation.

I want to wish Becki and Thomas a great career in the future, I know what they have taken from Bright Purple will be of value to them as they look to develop further. For Sarah, Lewis, Craig and Deonne, you are all now Bright Purple People, you worked hard for 6 months to get these career’s with us, but now the real hard work starts as you move in to real jobs with the firm. Success is waiting for you if you want it bad enough and are willing to commit yourself to the challenges you’ll undoubtedly face in the months and years ahead.

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