An ex-young offender who has been rejected for “more than 300 jobs” has been given a second chance in a new start-up fashion business launched by prison leavers.
Zak Haji, 24, from west London said employers would repeatedly reject him when they found out he was an ex-convict and even after hiring him, he had been let go when his Disclosure and Barring Service results returned.
“I think I did a couple of hundred applications, definitely over 300 close to 500,” Mr Haji told The Independent.
“I was just thinking how do they expect you to change if they don’t let you change - if I can’t make money legally what do they expect you to do?” he added.
During the pandemic Mr Haji successfully applied to work in a Covid test centre supporting the NHS in tackling the nation’s biggest health emergency in 100 years, but was let go when a background check revealed his previous conviction.
Despite rejections and setbacks Mr Haji, who was convicted on drug-related crimes, said he was adamant he would turn his life and around and vowed to leave crime behind.
His determination led him to Inside Out, an organisation dedicated to giving young ex-offenders an opportunity to gain meaningful employment through entrepreneurship.
The organisation’s latest project, Blank Canvas, allowed eight young offenders to design and launch their own clothing brand selling it in a pop-up shop in Stratford Westfield. The shop gave the young people a chance to develop skills in business, fashion and retail through a mix of classes led by LinkedIn.
Inside Out founder Greg McKenzie lamented the significant unemployment rates among young offenders, with only 17 per cent of prison leavers in work a year after being released.
“Some young offenders don’t get a second chance, some don’t even get a first chance. We wanted to give them experience in fashion and business,” Mr McKenzie said.
“It costs £70,000-80,000 [a year] to house a young offender in Feltham’s Young Offenders Institution - that’s social services, mental health support and various other needs. Our project to help eight young men was a fraction of that total cost, so when you think about it, it’s not rocket science to get projects like ours and multiply it in cities up and down the country,” Mr McKenzie said.
“Ironically a lot of them have so much creative talent they haven’t tapped into or didn’t know how to, some of them are artistic but don’t know they are so when we were doing the design stage they were coming up with incredible sketches and drawings and they learned that while inside because they had nothing to do 23 hours a day locked up so they wanted to release that creative agency.”
Co-founder of Inside Out, Zack Fortag said the Blank Canvas project offered former offenders a unique opportunity to develop skills and feel encouraged and empowered to enter the world of work.
Mr Haji said the opportunity has allowed him to network with marketers and business developers, putting him in a position to drive his own ideas forward for the future.
“I won’t lie to you it’s been a very good opportunity it gave me a chance to see how the other side do it,” Mr Haji said, adding: “Moving forward I want to use all the experience and connections I gained in this to bring my own ideas to light.”
The Inside Out project will also provide continued support and guidance to the participants through peer-to-peer mentorship to ensure subsequent cohorts of the project are equipped to develop new skills and successfully navigate the world of work.
Founder Greg McKenzie said a big part of the project is challenging the negative public perception of ex-offenders and giving them an opportunity for a second chance.
To purchase products designed in the Blank Canvas project click here.
