As we continue to shape young people’s educational journeys, the commitment to fostering growth, support, and opportunity remains a cornerstone of our mission. The impressive number of applications, successful selections, and active participation in our programmes highlight the enduring impact of The Amos Bursary on the lives of students in London and the West Midlands.
2023 IN REVIEW
Our reflective video ‘2023 in Review’ encapsulates the essence of our journey throughout the year. As 2023 swiftly draws to a close, we are excitedly gearing up for the arrival of 2024.
APPLICATIONS ARE STILL OPEN
Be sure to get your application in before they close at 23:59 on 12 January 2024. We’re looking forward to welcoming our new cohort.
With all these new students coming, we need the mentors to support them. Why don’t you join us and empower young people to change the narrative and normalise success?
Our biennial Gala Dinner will take place on Friday, 21 June 2024, and coincides with our 15th year celebration. Keep an eye on our website as tickets go on general sale in January.
Wishing You a Prosperous New Year!
Stay tuned for more inspiring stories from the Amos Bursary community in 2024 as we continue
#PromotingExcellence, #ShapingFutures and #ChangeTheNarrative
As we bid farewell to October, it’s time to look back at the incredible stories and achievements that made this Black History Month so special for us (and there’s a lot!). Our Amos Bursary community continues to shine, promoting excellence, shaping futures and changing the narrative. Here’s a roundup of our top stories.
SALUTING OUR SISTERS
To mark this year’s Black History Month theme of ‘Celebrating or Sisters’, our students and alumni weighed in on the amazing black women they wanted to celebrate.
PROMOTING EXCELLENCE
Samuel Olajugba, a trailblazing Politics and International Relations undergraduate at the University of Kent, embodies excellence, inspires positive change and is ready to make waves at Anthropy UK. 🔗Read more
Ife Alabi, a Warwick Law undergraduate, empowers Midlands youth with a mindset of resilience and LinkedIn expertise, fostering opportunities for growth and achievement. 🔗Read more
Nike Ajijola‘s remarkable speech at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre encourages others to embrace opportunities, seek support, and network with everyone. 🔗 Read more
Alumni Seun Sontan and Gabriel Amida and their team once again brought together African Caribbean Societies from universities across the UK to the Live Nation x Amos Bursary ACS Leadership Summit. 🔗Read more
SHAPING FUTURES
On the first day of the month, one of our Charity Partners, Ideas Foundation, shared how we joined forces to offer Amos students incredible opportunities to nurture their creative talents. 🔗 Read more
Grant Thornton staff gave up their office and their time to introduce students to the world of accounting and financial services with a real-world perspective. It’s been amazing to read some of the employees’ accounts. 🔗 Read more 🔗 Jessica Winter’s thoughts 🔗 Carly Gordon’s wishes
Linklaters opened their doors once again for our Student Development Day where we went through CV Writing, Interviews and Preparation For the World of Work. 🔗 What Awa Amon had to say🔗 Alexia Manentsa’s account
Amos students gained valuable insights at a speed networking session put on by Brown Brothers Harriman at their London HQ. 🔗 Read more
CHANGING THE NARRATIVE
Bank of America opened its doors for the official launch of The Amos BursaryUnder 16 Progressive Network, designed to help students thrive at school and transition successfully into life after GCSEs.
Rokos Capital Management hosted their Black History Month event, which included a book signing by entrepreneur, author and social commentator (oh and did we say Amos Alumnus and Ambassador), Kenny Imafidon. 🔗 Read more 🔗What Kavaughn had to say🔗Read Destiny’s account
Linklaters hosted the Black Apprentice Network’s BHM Conference reviewing the accomplishments of the network in the last year while also providing a glimpse into the upcoming plans for their community in the months ahead. 🔗Read more
Bukunmi Oloyede reminded us how delighted she was to have been selected for the Mission 44 Youth Advisory Board. As an aspiring engineer, she considers it a profound privilege to be a part of this inspirational charity dedicated to driving transformative change. 🔗Read more
Cambridge undergraduate, Amber Morrison spoke at PwC’s virtual town hall meeting explaining what ‘Saluting our Sisters’ means to her as part of our first female cohort and how these bold young women are being equipped to bridge the Authority Gap as they prepare to enter the world of work.
Standard Chartered Bank Celebrated Black History Month, extending their welcome to The Amos Bursary. We were privileged to be able to enjoy the live sounds of the amazing YolanDa Brown and her band. 🔗Read more
Jibril Rose received the Inspired Youth Award from the Association of Jamaican Nationals UK and got the chance to discuss government policy and the issues people are facing in today’s society at No.10! 🔗Read more
They say things come in threes, well Amos Alumni and Ambassador, George ImafidonMBE thought he would keep that trend going this month, in a spectacular way…
1. The Prince of Wales presented the Kid fromPrince of Peckham with an MBE no less for services to engineering, technology and young people! 🔗Read more
2. George was awarded Entrepreneur Rising Star of the Year by Barclays and The Black British Business Awards for the work of his organisation Motivez. 🔗 Read more
3. KPMG recognised Motivez as the Most Promising Non-Profit Organisation. 🔗Read more
ELSEWHERE IN THE COMMUNITY
CELEBRATE Johansel Emanuel Hernandez Pena and Sharon Ukpere both reaching their fundraising goals. They will both be off on the Amos Bursary International Experience to Lisbon, Portugal this year – Web Summit here they come. 🔗Johansel’s fundraising journey🔗Sharon’s fundraising journey
🔗SUPPORT Amos Mentor and donor of over 150 suits to our students, Michael Barrington-Hibbert, is standing as a candidate for Alderman of the City of London. If successful Michael will be the first black Alderman!
🔗CONGRATULATE Amos supporter, Elicia McKenzie who shone at LCCI Black Excellence Awards.
🔗WATCH Amos Alumni Karl Kareem Melami reveal the Sisters he celebrates not just in Black History Month. Spoiler alert, we all salute them for where we are today!
The winners of the Coronation Generation Poster Design Challenge have been announced
Educational charity, Ideas Foundation invited schools, colleges and educators from across the UK to take part in a challenge to encourage young people to get involved in the Coronation of King Charles III by harnessing their creativity.
Throughout April, Ideas Foundation delivered in-person workshops with schools and colleges from across the UK, including Manchester, Scarborough, Belfast, Greenock, Newport and London.
This allowed students to work alongside professional photographers and creatives including Canon Ambassador, Photographer and filmmaker – Clive Booth, Creative and Design lead, Hannah Wood from Wood & Co, Ayo Olubode, Poet and Amos Bursary Alumnus, Jags Singh, Cannon Ambassador, Nigel Stafford from Clear Channel and Robin Wight, founder of Ideas Foundation to develop and hone their skills and build confidence. The judges’ favourite design was created at a workshop hosted by Advertising Agency McCann London.
The Amos Bursary students’ creative process at McCann London for the Coronation Generation Poster Design Challenge
The judge’s favourite design, ‘#KingdomUnited’, was created by students from The Amos Bursary
The design was chosen by the judges because of its ability to do so much by saying very little. Head judge Sir John Hegarty, co-founder of Bartle Bogle Hearty and The Garage Soho, commented, “I wish I had thought of it myself. It’s a brilliant image. It shows how one idea can unite all issues and I love the fact they’ve just inverted Kingdom and United.”
Judges selected a group of ‘winning’ posters, which will be displayed on digital billboards at sites across the UK including Ealing, Liverpool and Glasgow, donated by Clear Channel UK. Alongside Sir John Hegarty The posters were judged by a panel of leading figures from the UK creative and education sectors, which included Kulvinder Johal, regional mentor for London and the South East for the Primary Science Teaching Trust, Simeon Quarrie, pioneering storyteller and technologist and Ben Conway copywriter at McCann London and Ideas Foundation Alumni.
Talent of the future
Conway was inspired by the levels of creativity from all the young people taking part, “To see how the young people have engaged with the Coronation Generation project has been so enlightening, their perspectives as they come of age in the King’s reign, it’s a sign of the times that the United Kingdom is ushering in a new era of hope and vision that we haven’t seen before. These posters they’ve created will be a starting point of King Charles’s history as King, and I’m so happy we’ve been given the platform to validate and uplift the voices of the young people to be a part of that history.”
Heather MacRae, Chief Executive at Ideas Foundation, the award-winning educational charity which champions bringing creativity into the classroom, said “We have all been blown away by the standard of entries and the enthusiasm of schools, having received over 1,000 signups. For many, The King’s Coronation will be the first celebration of this type they will have ever seen. We wanted to ensure young people could share what the occasion means to them. The winning posters give a real insight into how the younger generations view the Monarchy and reveal the yet untapped talent of the future of the UK creative industries.”
Reactions to the win
Colleen Amos OBE, CEO of The Amos Bursary an educational charity that partner with schools to empower British young people of African and Caribbean heritage to excel in education, commented “The Coronation Generation Poster Design Challenge was an amazing opportunity for our students to explore their creativity alongside industry experts. Their design will be displayed to mark this historic event making the whole experience more memorable for all of us. The Coronation values of community, diversity, sustainability, and youth are integral to all that The Amos Bursary does.”
Students involved in the winning poster said:
“I am grateful to have been part of commemorating such an important event in history” – Divine
“I feel honoured to have won as this is such a prestigious event.” – Rebecca
I think it’s nice to have been selected; the feeling that I’ve gone above and beyond in the creative field is something that I’m unlikely to forget.” – Vanessa
“This was a great learning experience for me and fun to do. It’s exciting that our design was chosen by the judges as the winner.” – Erykah
Creativity Wins
Although there can only be one overall ‘judges’ favourite’ design, the real winner is the opportunity itself. Highlighting the importance of creativity and its positive impact on everyone who rolls up their sleeves, embraces the unknown and “gives it a go”.
For more about the Coronation Generation Poster Design Challenge and to see all of the “winning” designs visit Ideas Foundation.
Involved in concept and delivery: Divine Agumba Rebecca Gouro Vanessa Okeke Erykah Worburton Jags Singh – Cannon Ambassador and Photography Tutor for Ideas Foundation
As we approach the end of the year we have much to remember with pride.
We expanded to support even more students as part of our ‘Triple Track’ development programme. Working with our mentors, sponsors and partners we have been able to offer students more opportunities from an even broader range of sectors to support their cultural and creative knowledge alongside their professional development. They have learnt from leaders in the Arts and culture, NGO’s and non-profits as well as entrepreneurs from a variety of industries.
Students had access to office visits, internships and invitations to workplace events which took place throughout the Easter, summer and half-term holidays. We held our first Gala Dinner for three years; resumed the New York Experience; sent students to the internationally acclaimed Collision and Web Summits; and in October launched our first satellite programme based in the West Midlands. All of this is only possible with the continued support of our sponsors, volunteers and Alumni.
A special thank you to my team who are THE DREAM TEAM.
As we move into 2023, Amos Bursary students will continue to SHINE and make the most of every opportunity.
To everyone who is sharing our journey, thank you for your support.
The Amos Bursary launches AMOS Connect, a new professional communications platform providing a significant set of digital features and benefits for our students.
The AMOS Connect platform which was officially launched in July 2022, has been designed to provide every Amos Bursary scholar with a fully hosted website on the ‘.amosbursary.com’ domain. Scholars will have access to their own corner of the internet where they can sell creations, blog their thoughts, showcase a portfolio, share their unique digital CV, or express themselves creatively in some other way. Students have already been developing their sites which are showing great promise. From budding social enterprises like https://ifealabi.amosbursary.com/ to education support services https://nikeajijola.amosbursary.com/ , it is indeed growing into a space for promoting excellence.
This unique offering was made possible by the generosity of Peter Jean-Pean, founder of the IT and digital services platform, WizzyWyp Media. Peter sees this personal gift of his time and expertise as his contribution to changing the narrative for these talented students. “The Amos Bursary gives fantastic support and transforms the lives of young people from African and Caribbean backgrounds. I hope the digital platform that we have developed opens a new chapter for the charity, adding value for the Amos Bursary students and beyond.”
Dowshan Humzah, an Independent Board Director and Strategic Advisor initiated the website project. In his capacity as an advisor to The Amos Bursary, Dowshan remarked from the outset, “This benefit for the Amos Bursary’s students is unique versus any other programme targeting underestimated students or advancing ‘levelling up’ and social mobility in the UK. We have seen how digitisation has advanced during the pandemic and this donation from Peter takes advantage of that. It also serves the growing desire from students to have a digital presence promoting themselves, their interests, passions, business or recreational pursuits.”
The Amos Bursary Co-founder and CEO, Colleen Amos OBE noted, “Our students spend five years on one of our triple track programmes as Scholars, Associates or Progressives. We currently have over 350 students who have the opportunity to benefit from this offer which is value at approximately £1700 per student. We are extremely thankful to Mr Jean-Pean for his generous gift that provides such a relevant proposition for our students and excited to see the successful digital ventures they launch on the platform.”
Phase two of the project is currently in Beta testing and is set to deliver even more communication-enhancing features to The Amos Bursary community.
Suvera has secured £5 million in its first public seed extension financing round led by Morningside Ventures, allowing them to reach thousands more patients. As stated by the startup “The investment will allow the company to continue to invest in our people, and technology to reach more patients and partners across the UK”.
Born from an idea by Amos Alumnus and Ambassador Dr Ivan Beckley, to tackle the lack of information on medication instructions in 2016, to developing a virtual care platform contracted by GPs surgeries across the country, Suvera is making its mark in the liminal space of medicine and technology.
Suvera is a unique virtual care platform. They help general practitioners virtually manage patients with hypertension and diabetes, using a dedicated remote care team and its in-house technology, resulting in 20,000 patients from across 40 GPs being supported.
This announcement brings the total backing for the company to £7 million, with previous support from Google’s Black Founders Fund, Calm/Storm Ventures, Ascension Ventures and Angel Investors including; Stephen Bourke, Matthew Miller, Chris Kelly, Colin Salmon and others.
At the Bursary, we are proud of the way our alumni are bringing solutions to the world’s problems and leading the way for change. With the mission Suvera has set out on, the sentiment for leading change remains true, as it continues to pursue a world where managing your health conditions is no longer burdensome.
We are pleased to announce the launch of AMOS News Network in partnership with CNBC International.
This is a new, year-long development and educational programme, continuing the long-term collaboration between our two organisations. The programme will offer Amos students the opportunity to get an inside look at how the news is made and gain first-hand knowledge of journalism and financial news from experts in the field at CNBC International.
CNBC is the leading global network of live business and financial news, information, and analysis, reporting directly from the major financial markets around the globe. In addition to the global TV network, its award-winning content is available on a host of digital platforms and services, including CNBC.com, CNBC PRO and across social channels.
The focus of the programme is aimed at providing students with a range of media-based skills including editorial, production, copywriting, editing, social media and marketing. Additionally, CNBC employees will provide mentorship and guidance tailored to the students’ needs and interests.
Six students with a special interest in media have been selected from across The Bursary. Moyin Babalola, Becklyna Gyampoh, Maame Oppong-Agyare, Eden Ehioghae, Kwaku Boateng and Kwabena Osei will create content in a format of their choice, with the support of AMOS Alumni Max Auer, Xavier Hamilton and a team of CNBC employees and resources. The content will be shared through our social pages and the students will be able to use this content to build their editorial portfolios.
John Casey, President and Managing Director of CNBC International, said: ‘I have been involved with The Amos Bursary for a number of years and having mentored some of the talented pupils of the Bursary, it became clear that a career in media was not something that many aspired to. The team and I at CNBC wanted to create an aspirational programme where students can learn about news reporting and publishing, and the different career tracks available within the media sector.’
Colleen Amos, Co-founder and CEO of The Amos Bursary, added: “Having the AMOS News Network in partnership with CNBC offers our young people an opportunity that will transform their lives. In such a competitive field, the chance to work and learn from professionals in close proximity is priceless.”
The programme will run until the spring of 2023 and culminate with a closing event.
Today marks the second anniversary of the passing of George Floyd and we take a moment to reflect on his untimely murder in a police attack.
In case there is anyone who does not know, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was apprehended for an alleged offence in Minneapolis, USA. Following his apprehension, four police officers took a series of actions that not only violated his rights but lead to his neck being pinned against the ground, whilst he pleaded for his life, for eight minutes and forty-six seconds until he eventually passed away.
It took little under nine minutes for a police officer, Derick Chauvin to take his life. Nine minutes that should have been used to make the rational and moral decision to drive Mr Floyd to the police station for further questioning, yet instead they were spent murdering and allowing his murder, despite bystanders crying and screaming for them to stop.
There is no denying that the treatment Mr Floyd received was unjust; regardless of whatever crime he may have been accused of committing there is no excuse to murder anyone, let alone due to racial stereotypes associated with the colour of their skin.
While this day signposts an untimely and melancholic event, it also reinforces the mission of charities such as The Amos Bursary. Our mission seeks to help change the negative narrative associated with being young and Black. To help others see that we are so much more than a code like ‘IC3’ or a statistic in the number of people not going into higher education. That we can make our dreams a reality and not feel like we have to be held down by the clichés associated with being black.
The AMOS Bursary community that has been formed over the past 13 years facilitates and champions the success of ambitious Black British men and women from underprivileged backgrounds. It offers us empowerment and the ability to develop confidence in ourselves and our skill sets through workshops, networking events and so much more. Being part of The Bursary and its excellence program has made us increasingly confident in our abilities by the minute.
It has often been said that Mahatma Gandhi famously said “Be the change you want to see in the world”. In fact what he said was “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.” As AMOS Bursary scholars we can say with confidence, that the skills and mindset that are being developed in us are helping us to become pioneers of change within our community. We’re not waiting to see what others do. We’re moving and we’re shaping futures that transform stereotypes about young black people and that allow students and professionals of African and Caribbean heritage to have the same opportunities as their white counterparts.
Article by Oluwabukunmi Oloyede and Daniel Bateren
Discover how The AMOS Bursary students and alumni have been inspired to change the narrative.
Yesterday four AMOS brothers were part of a round table discussion at University College, Oxford hosted by Baroness Amos of Brondesbury with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales as the guest of honour.
Amos alumni and ambassador Isaiah Wellington-Lynn, alongside current Amos scholars Wayne Gouro, Kwabena Osei and Leon Gidigbi discussed key issues surrounding access to Oxford and Cambridge for underrepresented groups and shared their own personal journeys of applying to and being at Oxford. The Prince took great interest in understanding their varied perspectives and the challenges they faced which included everything from misconceptions of Oxford, to lack of guidance and encouragement.
They also reflected on critical things that have helped them on their journeys such as the UNIQ Oxford program and The AMOS Bursary, and they explored ideas of what could be done to improve access further.
Isaiah’s PhD research paper “The anthropology of belonging, meritocracy and privilege” was of particular interest as Prince Charles is currently thinking a lot about how to leverage his network to better support young people pre, during and post-university, and those who take alternative paths. Isaiah said of the visit, “He was very inquisitive and managed to get me to talk about a lot of different things from basketball, my £64,000 crowdfunding campaign and my upbringing to the London Interdisciplinary School, the challenges of siloed education, and a university’s duty to validate contemporary jobs and career paths.”
Yesterday these young men left the residence of Baroness Amos feeling privileged to have had a seat at such an influential table alongside the future monarch. Today they got their heads back down and continued the necessary work to build the tables that they can invite their younger AMOS brothers and sisters to sit at in the future.
When future kings meet the future king great things can happen!
Get insight into what drives our amazing co-founder and patron Baroness Valerie Amos in her Becoming X interview
Today, 22nd April 2022, is the fifth Stephen Lawrence Day, since its introduction following the tireless advocacy of his parents, Neville Lawrence and Baroness Doreen Lawrence.
As a young person who was recently introduced to the details of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, it saddens me that when I Google searched his name the first few articles that popped up reduced him to a mere statistic – a black teenager who was murdered in a racist attack. It is obvious that he was so much more than that.
I think a lot of the time when recounting those who lost their lives in terrible circumstances, we tend to gloss over who they were as people and the lives they lived. After a while, we stop seeing those involved as individual innocents and merely another example of the extent of the institutionalised racism in the country. It pains me to see people be reduced to being another case to add to the long list of names of those killed in racial atrocities.
Stephen Lawrence was an 18-year-old boy who lived in Eltham in South London. He had dreams and aspirations of becoming an architect. These were stopped in their tracks. This Stephen Lawrence Day, I want to recall who Stephen Lawrence was, as a son, a brother, a cousin, a friend and most importantly a fellow man. I want to think about how, if he was not murdered, he would have achieved his dreams of being an architect.
Let us celebrate the life he did live, and the many accomplishments that his mother, Baroness Lawrence, has completed since that fateful day. Like how she successfully campaigned for police reform and the elimination of double jeopardy (the principle that stopped suspects from being tried twice for the same crime). After founding the Stephen Lawrence Trust and opening the £10 million Stephen Lawrence Centre, in 2018 she achieved the ultimate goal of convincing the Prime Minister to introduce a day every year to commemorate the life of her son. The strength of Baroness Doreen Lawrence is extremely admirable and makes you ponder how much Stephen would have also achieved if he was alive today.
Instead of this day being full of sorrow, I would like to instead celebrate Stephen Lawrence’s life and look forward to the impact his family’s legacy will have on future generations, on my generation and on me.
