Youth Connect Live: soft skills for entrepreneurs

Azzees is Director, Facilitator and Chief Operating Officer at 2-3 Degrees. The award-winning social enterprise is committed to inspiring and empowering young people to fulfil their potential through engaging in confidence building and skills enhancing workshops and programmes across the UK. Since March 2016, they have worked with over 9,000 young people across the country, including reaching over 500 young people online during Covid-19 restrictions.

Azzees was a Political Advisor and Researcher to senior elected politicians in the London Assembly for over three years, and covered the housing, policing and economy portfolios for London. She co-authored two influential reports that helped change the narrative around the provision of youth services in London.

She also was Area Manager in the Housing and Land department of the Greater London Authority and supported new, affordable housing developments in Wandsworth and Bexley when leading on a ￡290 million government Housing Infrastructure Fund.

David joined Social Enterprise Academy in 2009, having previously worked with community recycling social enterprises and managed a local rural partnership in the Scottish Highlands. Before this, David was involved in the early days of University of the Highlands & Islands, lecturing in Rural Development on the university’s first degree programme. David has also been an Associate Lecturer and Consultant with the Open University on Environment modules since 2003, and a volunteer Director of Circular Communities Scotland since 2021.

David’s work with Social Enterprise Academy is to identify and develop opportunities for new business which is sustainable, in every sense of the word. The Academy facilitates transformational leadership programmes, supporting the growth and development of social entrepreneurs, thereby enabling their organisations to have greater impact on the communities they serve.

Outside of the Academy, David is to be found running in the hills, wild-camping and generally enjoying wild places.

Glenys holds an MPA from Dongguk University and currently works in international development. She’s also a small-scale entrepreneur and very passionate about stages of growth and leadership, specifically supporting women in the workplace rise above invisible barriers, into positions of leadership.

Khola Abdalla a medical doctor, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Medicine and Surgery from Benghazi University, Libya. Works as a Project Coordinator at a local NGO, focusing on awareness campaigns, media initiatives, and peacebuilding. As a civil activist, Khola is deeply passionate about encouraging dialogue, fostering debate, and driving positive societal change.

Michelle is a final-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) student and a Healthcare Leadership Academy (HLA) Scholar. She is passionate about digital health, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and transformative leadership in healthcare.

Rutaba is the Country Coordinator for the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum, leading a volunteer-driven organization that trains young people in diplomacy and politics. She also serves as the Regional Programme Coordinator at Faith For Our Planet (FFOP), where she works on mobilizing faith leaders for climate leadership.

Stalo Lesta is a driven activist and works with civil society as a researcher, trainer, consultant and workshop facilitator. She is passionate about human rights education, women’s rights, gender equality, LGBTI rights and sexuality.

Since 2005, she has worked as an external associate with the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies in numerous projects on issues related to gender inequalities, gender mainstreaming, gender based violence, violence against women and girls, gender occupational segregation and youth empowerment.

 A real devotee of non-formal education, Stalo has extensive experience in developing training materials, manuals and handbooks.

Yahaya Joseph Janga is a project management specialist with over 9 years of cognate experience in programme/project planning, management, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and team dynamics. Yahaya has vast experience in youth engagement, peacebuilding, community engagement in challenging environments, policy and practice change, multi-stakeholder approach, and development facilitation in Nigeria. Yahaya has been working for the British Council since April 2016, starting as programme officer on DFID, now FCDO funded Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation programme (NSRP) and EU funded Managing Conflict in Nigeria (MCN) programme to the current Youth Connect Programme, Youth sustainable enterprise Challenge programme as programme manager.