Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards and previously known as the BAME Apprenticeship Awards and originally as the Asian Apprenticeship Awards are all about doing something practical to make a positive difference. I believe we have 'made a difference' and thus far and now we look forward to our seventh year. We have 'made a difference' even if it is in small way and will continue to do so by highlighting, recognising and celebrating apprenticeship success with both individuals, employers and learning providers that support them.The Awards would not be possible without the vision and support of many people. This includes the core team, judges and ambassadors who have given their time and effort for the cause as well as of course our sponsors and partners who have backed us with this initiative. Thank you all.p.s If you have a moment take a look at my thoughts from my personal blog back in November 2016: http://easy4life.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/proud-moment-with-asian-apprenticeship.html

oh my goodness....the care sector that I fell in love with during my time at Sandwell Council has a bad rep and that is heartbreaking. This is despite extra awareness and appreciation during COVID & the fabulous Clap for our Carers campaign. For those looking in & afresh at this - the work is regarded as menial, low paid and even with some positive TV programmes - the latest being Ed Balls and his inside the care crisis programme on BBC , the sector generally is still tarnished with a few high profile despicable cases of abuse and that is just some of the challenges faced by the sector and those who choose to work in the sector in whatever capacity.The demographics are very clear, the need ever growing with more complexity, combined with a culture of 'better for less' within an extremely competitive and regulated sector. On top of that the frightening prospect for our society is the lack of people entering into the sector. So why would anyone get involved? Well, to make a difference for social value and impact and of course the intrinsic rewards are just some of the main drivers here - hats off to you all.As a Homecare business our big challenge is recruiting the right staff, then to train, nurture and continuously support them to stay within our business. Contact us for opportunities in Greater Birmingham & Solihull, Dudley, Wolverhampton, Worcestershire, Derby and Nottingham. http://nationwidecare.org/contact/

F5 Foster Care takes its name from the values and beliefs which the creation of the service was based upon.Do you know someone who can help? We are seeking people to consider a career in Fostering. Please speak with Cathy Suffolk or any lovely team member for impartial advice. email:team@f5fostercare.co.uk #fostercarer #foster #fostercare #fosteringUk

With the increasing demand being placed on the care sector, the pharmaceutical requirements go well beyond the dispensing and delivery of prescriptions. This is where the team at Nationwide Care Pharmacy come in.We presently offer our services to Care providers in the Midlands and the North West and East regions. Contact Shoaib Qurban or any other team member on 0121 271 0201 or email: customercare@nationwidecarepharmacy.co.uk and we will come and meet with you to discuss your requirements.

Events but not just any events. We run events that have a cause and a purpose. We have our portfolio of events as well as events that are run in partnership or as a strategic supplier. We truly put our heart into it and are all about making a difference and making a positive impact in the world. We pride ourselves on true partnership working with an understanding of the “end in mind”. We do take things personally and of course offer professionalism, quality, and credibility at the heart of what we do as well having an innovative approach to it all.Currently, our team have been running The Business Book Awards since its inception, we also operate the BAME Apprenticeship Awards, the Festival of Apprenticeships, the BAME Apprentice Network plus all the Pathway2Grow events. We have also managed previously the Festival of Enterprise exhibitions.We are also seen at times working away in the background. We have a collaborative approach to working and our team is made up of diverse individuals with an array of skills, expertise and experience. Contact Kasim Choudhry on kasim.choudhry@pathwaygroup.co.uk and the team https://www.thinkfest.co.uk/our-team/Everything starts with a conversation, lets talk.

To Pod or not to Pod? That is the question that I asked myself before setting up Canny Conversations Podcast.Canny Conversations Podcast launched in March 2021 and we now have more than 100 episodes published and counting! Thank you.For more information on our published material and getting involved- see our dedicated website: https://cannyconversationspodcast.co.uk#cannyconversations #podcastshows #podcasts #podcast #leadershippodcast iTunes - https://lnkd.in/dBK7-q9Spotify - https://lnkd.in/dmiPppEGoogle - https://lnkd.in/dk8wSnu

Most Business Books don’t work unless you do is the core of my belief.Most business books don’t work just as knowledge in general as it comes down to simply what you do with what you know and most business books are bought at a moment when the person is motivated to do something – it’s a recommendation from a colleague or heard or read about the book from somewhere else.The problem is not with the intention, because it all start with intention, it’s in the doing. The intention is to read, digest and implement. The reality is that even when the book is read and often these are not, the main message of the book gets lost or left behind. This is often because there is so much there – a lot more than just the key lesson and messages. There are often stories told about the Author to establish credibility and continuously selling the author rather than prioritising and focusing on the ideas and lesson itself.Secondly and a bit obvious really there is no impact is that it doesn’t get read, often the reader just flicks through the book and may dip into a few paragraphs here and there and then leave it. It doesn’t grip the attention long enough -or its not meant to be read in short bites, so rather than self-development it becomes “shelf” development as we just stick the book on a shelf.It is this reason; that I tried to do something different, I devloped the Canny Bites book series, these strive to be short sharp impactful bites of wisdom that I share with you that you can easily dip in and out of. My latest book is the fourth in the series and is titled: Canny Bites series, ‘Successfully Scale Up or Exit Your Business’ The third book received real critical acclaim and is titled: ‘Attract, retain and grow your team to grow your business’, Find out more about these books and the videos that go with it here: https://cannybites.co.uk/buy-the-book/ and https://cannybites.co.uk/videos/

With the aim of creating a "community" for our business and also to change perception of networking, I embarked down this road of creating "Pathway2Grow - Network, Learn and Grow"Our present chain of networking events are based in the West Midlands with plans to grow across the country with the right local leaders.We presently run "Coffee and Natter- Free Business Networking", "Chutney and Chat" " Samosa Saturday" and PeerMeetUp.Some numbers:Over 4000 business owners have attended our eventsour Facebook groups have over 5000 members and over 1000 here on LinkedinIn our Whatsapp group we have near 1000 people and often have over 300 messages daily. If you are seeking to GROW your own business by having fun, meeting new contacts and increasing your visibility and profile then being in charge of an event is one of the best ways to do this. We have license and partnership opportunities available nationwide, if you are existing business owner and have an interest in social media, personal branding, marketing and have a product/service that you supply to other business owners (B2B) then as we say, "everything starts with a conversation - Lets talk:"

I can assist with any future exit or succession plans, I will aim to quickly provide you with a potential solution to exit your business including any insights into the sale process and likely timescales.The code of ethics for buying or investing a business on a private sale basis that Amington Holdings Ltd works to is shared with potential sellers to reassure them that we are ethical business buyers,Any information disclosed to us will be treated with the utmost confidence.We commit to finding the best WIN/WIN deal for all the parties concerned.If we believe that selling your business to us is not the best solution for you, we will tell you at the first opportunity and where we can assist you with an alternative solutionWe commit to providing realistic time scales for the purchase of your businessWe will do what we say we will do and keep our word.Everything starts with a conversation, Lets talk.

How did I end up here? Many a business owner has asked himself / herself that question. Many private businesses do not achieve the aspirations of their owners and many more are in the wilderness phase of their business. There is also often no direct link between the desired outcomes and the activites that are undertaken by the leadership of the business.If you are seeking someone to work alongside you to seek a mutually beneficial relationship then please contact via Linkedin or email: Safaraz@pathwaygroup.co.uk

With over 22 years dedicated to social entrepreneurship in the Further Education (FE) sector, I am deeply passionate about the transformative power of FE. It has been more than just a career to me; it's a lifelong commitment. I'm driven to champion the outstanding contributions of the sector and support everyone within it to excel. This passion is what fuels my podcast, where I seek to elevate and celebrate the impact of FE.I launched the FE Podcast with an initial 5 pilot episodes. After taking soundings I have decided to put my efforts into the Canny Conversations Podcast and brand: https://cannyconversationspodcast.co.uk/See the dedicated website for the initial 5 recording though: https://fepodcast.co.uk/

FSA regulated complaint handling management and process. Including actuarial calculations and administration. Project management, process development, performance management and training.

A great lifestyle business that I operated at the time - I was able to conduct regulated business in addition to unregulated. I assisted businesses with growth, mainly dealing with Business Finance, Property Finance and Asset and Working Capital Finance.my motto was -Lenders aren’t all made equal and give yourself a better opportunity to get a better deal.In addition to finance matters I helped organisations grow by working closely as a Non Exec 'critical friend'. I ended this period of activity and took one of my biggest risks which was to focus all my efforts on the Nationwide Care Services business with my friend and the founder Waheed Azam as I felt it was the right thing to do and I felt I could help start and scale that business.

FSA regulated complaint handling management and process. Including actuarial calculations and administration. Project management, process development, performance management and training.

I came back to something I could do fairly easily and in fact quite well. That is number crunching, researching, letter writing and communicating in a sector that I loved and where my degree was in. The only issue was we were dealing with regulatory compliance and pressures and had to deal with people who were upset at being 'mis-sold'. On the positive again - met a great bunch of people including my current day business partners there. Oh and of course we had a free cooked lunch everyday as well :-)Some of the stuff I dealt with in my role in the management of 'pension review' involved:Analysis of Opt-out and Transfer cases, information gathering and dealing with any queries or discrepancies by contacting relevant parties and making amendments.Identify if we have all information including Scheme information and what compensation route can be followed.Deal with any joint liability issues where applicable.Arrange for an appropriate offer letter or exclusion letter to be sent.Calculation of Loss incurred using the RECAL system on Opt-out and DSS only cases and so on.The company is now known as Phoenix (formerly Resolution and Britannic Assurance).

I joined Sandwell Council at a time where there was tremendous change in adult social services with more commercial procurement taking place and in the early days of personalised budgets implementation.In addition, a multi-agency working and collaboration approach was becoming the norm and the introduction of innovative working such as Hospital Discharge and Hospital Admission Prevention programmes which laid the bedrock for future procurement and commissioning strategies.The issue as always was not the strategies, the services nor the processes, It was unfortunately the people that were there, many had been in social services for decades and there was huge amount of fallout and resistance from Social workers many going on long term sick, taking sporadic sickness and general discontent throughout. I realised that for many in this arena Social work is not just a career, it is a lifestyle and a lesson in responsibility and there is relentless optimism. It was easy for me to say to them that change is inevitable and tell someone they need to focus on the positives and embrace it. I was constantly forced to question myself and reflect on my work, my values, and my life. I left this position having tremendous respect for my line manager – Harjinder Mann, a lady that constantly dealt with all the issues without complaining and moaning and understanding the bigger picture of the people she was assisting who were battling bigger problems and she was doing what she had to for the right reasons.I gained enormous value: the realisation that life is not always simply black and white and there are many perspectives to everything. I knew I needed to move on so I had better get on with it.

Transco was a memorable place to work where people mattered and we all had opportunities to make a difference. At the time that I was there British Gas was restructured and Transco was created to transport and store gas. Transco subsequently became National Grid.Working at Transco was my first real job after University where previously I had been working as a Security Guard and Retail Assistant for Halfords.My role was as a Billing Analyst based at 51 Homer Road, in Solihull where I was analysing and dealing with erroneous meter reads and bills alongside customer complaints and resolving issues. It was a sad day when I had to leave, I was already father of a lovely daughter and a second was on the way, and I left for a better opportunity.