Behind our cause, we have a cohesive group of supporters. We owe them a big part of our fast-paced growth. We are grateful on behalf of our young community, to which we daily help get a fair chance for career development. This significant yet challenging task can’t progress forward if we don’t have a motivated team of professionals. On this page, you can learn more about them and get to know better our main driving force – our founder James Adeleke.
Meet The Team
James Adeleke
One of the first things you have to know about our Nigerian-born founder James Adeleke is that he is on a mission – to change the world, at least to make it fairer. Establishing our foundation is an enormous step that he took in this direction. James is the CEO and Founder of Generation Success, an award-winning social enterprise working with 65+ employers in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The leading cause of the Generation Success initiative is to tackle social inequality and connect diverse talent to careers.
A curious fact is that James started Generation Success after the London riots. The depressing picture of the riots ignited his desire to become an active part of the change.
Until this point, he was already fed up with the social injustice deciding the life of so many young people of diversity.
James Adeleke couldn’t stay passive because he believes your birth or unequal social status should not define a career. He also has seen the struggle of many of his contemporaries in law school. James knows the barricade those young graduates face in their careers due to their social or economic background. All those factors were enough for James to set his mind and take action.
What is inspiring about James’ persona is that he, on his own, has had several challenges. Let’s take a look at some of them:
– James discovered he had Dyslexia and Dyspraxia a week before his final exams at the age of 24. Despite this, he still achieved a 2:1.
– James grew up in a single-parent household in an area that was predominantly single-parent household.
– His mum worked five cleaning jobs and had aspirations for him to become a lawyer, doctor, or accountant. But due to a lack of networks, the only guidance or step up she could give him was to “study hard, pray, and God would provide”.
– Started the journey after the London riots when people said this was a lost generation. Angry by this, he had several conversations and went home thinking he could create a solution. James went to bed and woke at 4 in the morning in a cold sweat and ran to his desk to create a 4-year plan of change.
– GS sees 1000+ young people take part in its talks and programs every year where young people are chasing their career aspirations
– Since January 2021, GS has partnered with employers to create over 124 jobs+ jobs for young people. If all are filled will see them being paid above £1.2 million in salaries.
Despite his rough start, James has achieved very inspirational feats, and this is the reason that makes him the perfect leader for our movement. He had and still is participating in many projects, reports, and commissions centered around social enterprise and employability. He has also spoken in parliament and city hall on social mobility, diversity, and employability. James is a school governor at Newham Collegiate and an Independent Member of the Student Association Board at Arden University. Another great fact, which empowers our belief in a better and fairer future, is that James has formed a first-class advisory board and leads a management team helping him to progress his mission. We can talk a lot more about his accomplishments, but one thing should have become obvious until this point. James Adeleke thrives on motivating others, building productive relationships, and creating effective strategies supporting the success of the stakeholders with whom he works with.