Ever since Fight for Peace member Samin Azad won a local Entrepreneurial Programme last summer, he’s taken on every new opportunity with confidence and ambition. From galvanizing youth leadership within the Newham Youth Partnership, to launching his own food bank initiative hosted at our Academy – he demonstrates what’s possible when young people are given the opportunity to lead. 

Samin first joined Fight for Peace two years ago and while he attended a few boxing sessions, it wasn’t until the Osmani Trust’s Entrepreneurial Programme that he became a familiar face at our Academy. 

The Osmani Trust is a member of the Newham Youth Partnership – a brilliant collective of over 60 organisations working together in Newham to support young people and their families. In the spirit of this, the Osmani Trust’s Dragon’s Den Entrepreneurial Programme gave young people the opportunity to hone their business skills and present their ideas to four dragons, with the chance to win a cash prize that went towards their proposal.

Samin takes it from here:

“The Entrepreneurial Programme came up at an important time for me. I was recovering from a sports injury, and it was a low point for my mental health. I really enjoyed sports, it was something I did with my friends, and while I hadn’t wanted to do it professionally, it was important to me.

I think sport is something that unites everyone, whether that’s boxing or football. It makes you feel empowered because with every good or bad performance, you end up learning something. You can take lessons, and you can either learn from them or they’re going to make you stronger. For me, it’s made me the person I am.

Losing this [because of my injury], I knew I had to find a new path and that’s when this opportunity came up. Run by the Osmani Trust at the Fight for Peace Academy, the Entrepreneurial Programme was empowering. I entered with a team of friends and we won. We spent the winnings wisely by buying a full set of equipment for social media marketing and we just started pushing out into the community from there. We’ve now worked with 15 businesses in the last six months across north and east London. 

While at Fight for Peace, I realised there were a lot of youth leadership opportunities and support that few other places offered. One of these was the Newham Youth Partnership’s Future Light Leadership group. Joining this group really opened my eyes as I realised there was so much more to be done in the community. 

That’s why I started the food bank because I realised Ramadan was coming up, and our community is one of the ones struggling the most. The way I see it is, if someone’s already fasting for a day, I wouldn’t want them to go to sleep hungry too. 

The response was immense. We cleared everything out in the first two hours. It makes you think, if you want to challenge the issues we face globally, you have to start at the root. You can’t have a strong tree with weak roots. 

Young leaders are an essential part of this, but there aren’t enough of us. This is partially due to a lack of opportunity. I know there are things like the young MP programme, but these don’t come up often enough. I also get that adults may not take young people seriously, but I think in a generation like this, we’re all maturing faster. I’m seventeen and have been able to accomplish a lot. 

There also needs to be better communication. I think young voices aren’t being heard enough, and it isn’t because young people aren’t speaking up or adults aren’t listening. It’s just that there isn’t enough communication between them. So I’m going to bridge that gap.

But, I cannot be the only one. There’s not enough people taking the initiative and wanting to become leaders, to call out things that are wrong. To all young people: you have to think for yourselves and take initiative, because what comes at the end, the result, will be much greater than you could ever have imagined. 

With better communication, greater opportunity, and more young people taking the initiative to step into leadership – we can build a future that’s supported, stronger and reflective of everyone’s needs within the community.”

Samin’s words, leadership and vision are evidence of what’s possible when young people are provided with opportunities – they rise with confidence, strive to improve their communities, and pave the way for other young leaders to follow. 

Youth Leadership is one of our Five Pillars, working holistically with education, employability, mentoring, and combat sports to help young people unlock their potential. At Fight for Peace, we offer a variety of youth leadership opportunities through Youth Power and the Newham Youth Partnerships’ youth group Future Light. We also train other organisations to do the same, ensuring young perspectives are embedded and the next generation is empowered to lead. 

Keep an eye on our socials for announcements regarding our next Youth Leadership training sessions!