UKStartups

I regularly get asked to give talks about my story. I should take them as an opportunity to promote my book, but I turn down virtually all of the requests because I just don’t enjoy doing it.

One organisation I can’t say no to though is the Prince’s Trust, here’s why.

So when they asked me to talk at London Tech Week where they were announcing the launch of their new online platform, I did.

Here’s the video:

It’s been a while since I wrote my Entrepreneurs in Prison post – more than four years in fact.

But I’m pleased to be able to tell you about two big steps in the right direction.

HMP Ranby and CfE

Firstly, the Centre for Entrepreneurs has secured funding to run an entrepreneurship course in HMP Ranby. This comes shortly after the publication of the Inmates to Entrepreneurs report earlier this year.

I’m on the steering committee for this and am also hoping to be getting my hands dirty behind bars. This is just a trial, but I’m sure if it’s a success it’ll be rolled out to more prisons.

Coding at HMP Humber

Along with Michael Taylor, I’ve set up a Community Interest Company to teach coding to inmates. We will kick off with a pilot project at HMP Humber in early 2017. Michael should take all the credit for this as we wouldn’t have got to this point without his perseverance. We’ve also had a lot of help from Chris Redlitz and the guys at The Last Mile who have been doing this successfully for a number of years.

See Michaels post on the TechCity website for more details and to find out how you can help.

Sssh!

As if that’s not enough, I also have another project in the pipeline on this subject. It’s early days but I hope I’ll be able to tell you more about it in a few months.

It’s also worth noting – especially given the negative media angle on the Prison Service at the moment – how incredibly supportive and enthusiastic the Ministry of Justice and National Offender Management Service have been about making these programmes a reality.

I’m looking forward to seeing how our first graduates get on post-release.

Since I sold KashFlow I’ve been intermittently working on my biography. Going from drug trafficking to prison to starting and then selling a business is quite a journey and I wanted to write it all down so I didn’t forget it. I also wanted to make sure that my daughters had the full version of what happened for when they’re older – better they get the truth from me than half-truths elsewhere.
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