Welcome to Jimmy's Jobs of the Future. This is one of our historical episodes with Izzy

O'Beng from Foundervine. Izzy was one of the most impressive people that I came across

in Downing Street. She left a well-paying, secure job, and management consultancy firm

to start Foundervine to inspire Black and ethnic minority entrepreneurs to launch their

own ventures. They recently had their big Founder Fest conference which brings together

lots of different people to explore how we can improve the environment for Black and

ethnic minority entrepreneurs. She is one of the most inspiring individuals that I have

come across and it was great to go back through the archives. That's why I'm bringing this

episode to the forefront and to the top of the Jimmy's Jobs feed. So Izzy, welcome to today's

show. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind Foundervine and how he took the plunge

from working at KPMG? Yes, thank you so much for having me. So I always

talked about what it was like growing up in a part of London where there was so much ambition

but not necessarily as much opportunity to utilise that ambition in a helpful way. I saw

lots of young people around me fall into things that didn't make the most of who they are

and what they could do. I was always interested in business and building communities in some

way. I thought that would look like a career in politics for me and it was only after

working in the business sector that I realised that there was so much more we could do in

helping people start businesses and start social enterprises and really be at the forefront

of all of the changes we were seeing in our economy and that kind of where Foundervine came

in, by doing an opportunity for people who have great ideas to build those ideas with

the support of a ready-made community of mentors and finders and people who can introduce

them to other people and just helping guide us that way.

...