Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC with me, Manuela Saragossa.

Coming up, how the business world helped one convicted criminal turn his life around.

I went to a meeting with him with the directors of Unilebo, a company I didn't even knew existed.

So he's putting me in worlds that blew my head to pieces and I'm just absorbing everything.

I'm just absorbing everything. I'm just absorbing

everything like a sponge. So what role can businesses play in rehabilitating ex-offenders? It's no

exaggeration to say like businesses can reduce crime. That's all here in Business Daily from the BBC.

In the United States and in Britain, the unemployment rate remains at or near historic lows,

which might explain the results of a recent survey from recruitment and staffing services firm, ADECO, USA.

It found that companies in many industries are now looking to recruit from new pools of talent

they may have never considered before, a pool that includes people with criminal records,

people like Ali Nias. He went from convicted criminal here in the UK to international music

industry entrepreneur. But it was a bumpy journey with many bureaucratic hurdles to overcome.

So how did he do it? Well, Ali came into our studios here in London and told me his story.

I was originally in prison for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. So my journey is basically

grew up in inner city, south- west London. In a household of first generation

immigrants, so seeing my parents struggle and wanting material things led me to go outside and

seek how I could access these material things. So you basically sold drugs? Yeah, but I think

it's more than that because it's when you go out into your community,

you see what's available for you, what's out there, and the opportunity is it's very limited.

As you see the local drug dealer with the best clothes, the nicest car,

and you think that's an entry point for me to be able to access these things.

...