User talk:Samuel.Kasumu

Samuel Kasumu is a former elected student President and Vice President, board member and director. He is currently a trustee of the social enterprise which he founded that tackles youth and graduate unemployment. In more recent times he focuses his energy on working within faith groups, and local level political engagement. In addition to this he has recently been selected as one of the top 25 young entrepreneurs in the UK by the New Entrepreneurs Foundation (NEF) and will be working on how to create large scalable business as a result. Samuel is one of the first Rising Stars for the International Key Club; an international network for leaders across the world. He recently finished studying his postgraduate degree in Ethnicity, Migration, & Policy; having obtained an undergraduate degree in Business and Management Accounting. He has sat on the steering group for the London Week of Peace (previously overseeing their youth strategy) and the Olympic Committee Engagement Forum specifically for the black community. He also sits on the No Barriers board at the British Fashion Council, helping to get more diverse groups into the industry. Whilst at university, Samuel became interested in journalism, resulting in him writing articles that were read in universities across the UK and was eventually featured by the “The Voice” publication. He also became heavily involved in student politics; becoming the first and youngest candidate to receive 1000 votes in Brunel University’s Student Union election for the post of Vice President. The only student on the university governing body (university council), Samuel also sat on the finance committee, where he scrutinized budgets and priorities for the year ahead. During his time as the Vice President, Samuel was also nominated to be involved in the governance review of the union. In 2006 Samuel was the President of the largest African & Caribbean Society on a university campus where he is still known for the change he brought. In 2008 he was the youngest person to feature on the UK Power List of top 100 most influential African/ Caribbean’s. In 2009 and 2010 he was recognized as a top Future Leader. Recently, he oversaw the largest ever debate tour targeted at an ethnic community on university campuses across England (including Oxford & Cambridge) and featuring leading contributors including David Lammy MP. Samuel is known mainly for being the founder of Elevation Networks (EN). It is a student-led charity created to help make young people from underrepresented groups more competitive within the labour market. He set this up during his undergraduate study with some of his peers. The organisation now has over 6000 members and over 70 volunteers across the UK. To date the EN team have worked with organisations including IBM, Barclays Capital, Deloitte, the Youth Justice Board for England & Wales, the BBC, and have secured partnerships with the Olympics and Channel 4. EN also has a women’s campaign, with the objective of tackling underrepresentation of female leaders within the financial, banking, legal, and STEM industries. Elevation Networks are currently involved in bid writing for the Department for Work & Pensions Work Programme initiative. Having also been a consultant trainer for the National Youth Agency (specialising in participation), Samuel attends Jesus House church in Barnet (owners of the Novo Community Centre in Graham Park Estate), where he has been a youth leader, and now works on strategy including Big Society engagement within the community outreach department. He is also helping to build stronger relationships with churches within Barnet Borough, and a best practice framework for church and community engagement (focusing on measuring impact).

In recent times, he has gained political campaign experience. During the 2010 general election Samuel campaigned for Theresa Villiars MP, David Borrowes MP, and parliamentary candidate Philipa Stroud. He has also campaigned for a number of Councillors within his local area- where he has good political relationships. In 2009/2010 Samuel was part of the under 35’s development course at the Conservative Christian Fellowship. Samuel is a firm believer in learning through advisors and mentors. Currently, his mentors include: Andrew Selous MP (Samuel’s political mentor), Pastor Sola Adeaga (Deputy head of Jesus House Church, and Samuel’s spiritual mentor), and Catherine Muirden (Head of Human Resources for Barclays Plc’s UK retail banking network and Samuel’s business mentor). His advisors also include Dr Ian Macdonald (international consultant on systems based approaches to leadership), and Sir Terry Mansfield CBE (former President of the National Magazine Company).