Lysis to continue career mentorship work with Damilola Taylor Trust

018 City Careers Pathway Programme with the Damilola Taylor Trust is underway.

Lysis, a financial services consultancy headquartered in London and with offices worldwide, has been working with the Damilola Taylor Trust for over a year, and last year hosted the inaugural City Careers Pathway Programme workshops, welcoming the first batch of interns to the newly-formed Programme. With youth violence and, in particular, knife crime, since Damilola Taylor’s horrific murder becoming more and more of an issue, we are proud to be working with the Trust and its delivery partner Hudl CIC in delivering the City Careers Pathway Programme 2018, the objective of which is to provide participants from disadvantaged backgrounds experience and insight into working in the financial services industry.

These opportunities will provide the participants with insight into working in the City, as well as the chance to experience working within the specific fields in which Lysis operates. The work experience and internships will be carried out at the Lysis UK headquarters, which are located within the City of London. Where possible and whenever appropriate, participants of the Programme may be able to gain experience within the offices of existing clients, which include banks, card payment firms and other financial institutions.

Each individual who takes part in the DTT Career Pathway Programme will be offered the opportunity to work with a designated mentor for an unlimited amount of time who will be a City professional working within the financial services and investment banking industry. The objective of the Programme is to provide participants experience and insight into working in the financial services industry. The Programme will cover a number of different roles and aspects. This month we have begun our 2018 Programme, the second workshop for which is being held on the 16th May.

Participants who go on to gain internships or work experience will be working in a number of different areas including Anti-Money Laundering, IT Support and generalist roles. Tom Griffiths, Associate Director at Lysis said

“We are genuinely proud to be working with the Damilola Taylor Trust once again and being able to continue our support for the great work they do. We have already employed some motivated and driven young people through the Trust, and they have become valuable members of our growing team. We look forward to continuing our support of the Damilola Taylor Trust and welcoming our next wave of interns. We are driven to give the opportunity of a career with Lysis, and in the City as a whole for young people who may not have otherwise had the opportunity.” 

Alvin Owusu, who is participating in this year’s Programme, is enthusiastic and excited about his prospects as a result of his involvement. He commented:

“I am excited at the prospect of gaining work experience with Lysis and am finding the workshops invaluable, fun and engaging. The company is a warm and friendly one, and the Damilola Taylor Trust’s work with Lysis to bring this about is outstanding. I like that young people, some of whom have come through the Programme itself last year, are delivering the workshops and encouraging us to go for this. With a programme like this available to me and others, the future looks brighter!”

Alex Arowosekila, who joined Lysis last year as a result of the Programme commented:

“It is a great opportunity that allows people like myself, from a disadvantaged background, to gain experience working in the City. This is really stimulating as there are not really that many opportunities to grasp. I want to witness more projects like the CCPP introducing this scheme to more companies, allowing organisations to discover talent from various different backgrounds and give them opportunities that aren’t so easily accessible to them”.

Richard Taylor, founder and trustee of The Damilola Taylor Trust commented,

“One of the factors that cause disadvantaged inner-city youths to be isolated from society is unequal access to opportunities. Access to opportunities for training and gainful employment is the strongest enabler of productive participation and integration into society for anyone. We are therefore delighted that our City Career Pathway Programme is once again delivering the benefits the programme was designed to provide to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds: access to paid internships in Lysis, a significant City firm. We are grateful to Lysis for supporting us make this programme a reality again this year”.

Lysis is keen to be taking steps to improve social mobility in the workplace as it pays heed to the fact that research has consistently shown that people from more affluent backgrounds take a disproportionate number of the best jobs and that overall employers tend to disproportionately favour graduates who went to private schools and elite universities. Lysis feels that diversity enhances corporate performance and feels that every person of suitable ability should have the chance to pursue a career of their choice. Lysis is also keen to help demonstrate to those who do not come from affluent backgrounds that this should not be a hindrance to their career development and prospects.