My name is James Kaguima, I am an innovative entrepreneurial individual residing in Newham, London, which is where I spent most of my time in my youth. It was a very insightful experience as you get to be exposed to a variety of cultures and meet people from unique backgrounds, this helped in being able to relate to many people when growing up as our classrooms & neighbourhoods were so rich with diversity, enabling us to see beyond our differences.
However, Newham still has elements of criminality that looms over the borough, some areas the stigma is stronger than others. I grew up in Forest gate, where anyone from all ages could get exposed to the unscrupulous activity whether as an innocent bystander or a leading figure in criminal activity, and given the right circumstances (financial reasons & being in the wrong social circles), anyone could be tempted to take part. Luckily, I was no follower, and I am blessed to not see dubious/questionable individuals as potential role models due to my role models were family members who established careers in business and real estate, however, the crooks were more alluring to others (other impressionable young people) which leads them to follow in their footsteps.
Myself, on the other hand moved out of Forest-gate to live in Stratford during the times when the developments of the Olympics, Queen Elizabeth Park, Westfield Shopping Centre and the new developed housing in the gentrified part of Stratford were taking place. I was exposed to a brighter outlook on life, where fear of looking over your shoulders was minimal, although there was still some antisocial activity, but it is not done as openly as other parts of Newham that were infested with serious crime.
At 16, I became the youngest Youth Worker in my Local area for Genesis Housing Association, where I was scouted and became a leader among the young people, and facilitated team based activities. I then went on to become a Social Entrepreneur, as I was picked to successfully pitch for funding to lead a community focused projects that will encourage social impact in the local area keeping young people and the elderly connected through events.
This opportunity empowered me to take on numerous leadership roles during my time in education and outside in extracurricular activities, whether it was raising money for the Yemen Crisis on behalf of the British Red Cross, running events for the Pro Bono Society (largest student society at City, Law School) and eventually becoming an ambassador for Youth Employment UK, where we give expert advice to young people and corporations who want to become youth friendly employers.
My negative experience with A-Levels results only left me with a chip in my shoulder to do better in my Business course, where I made a comeback with grades equivalent to A*A*A* allowing me to be awarded a Lord Mayor Scholarship funding for academic excellence, to study at City Law School, during a time where my ambition was to become a Lawyer.
My time studying at University was rocky, as I overcame numerous adversities, in terms of feelings of isolation, illness and eventually experiencing rock bottom mental health, despite the fact I still managed to perform exceptionally well in mooting (legal competitions), exams and society activities, but at a cost of my health. I spent time in reflection and invested in my health through enrolling into gym and managed to rejuvenate myself through my relationship with God. I got back on track with life and graduated law school with a grade I am proud of and even spent my final year perfecting my experience in business and start-ups by starting a wooden watch ecommerce site, Hasani Watches, where for every watch sold, a tree was planted through a partner charity called One Tree Planted.
Still, adversity never left, and took form in graduate scheme rejections and in some odd door to door sales roles, this was a time where I grew accustomed to rejection and grew my confidence in Salesmanship. I then lunged into the world of Start-ups and Entrepreneurship and started my first web design agency (Hasani Designs), where I provided a service to help clients digitalise their message in the digital form of a website.
Through trial and error, I learned the fundamentals of running an agency and decided to apply for a few incubators, and to my surprise, I won every competition I took part in. As job rejection emails were coming in, I was on stage at a few business competition winning the judges side, whether it was Fin-Tech, Social Enterprise and Law-Tech.
This experience grew my network and confidence in working with all levels of people in business as I was invited to numerous C-Suite level events at Canary Wharf (for FREE due to being an Exhibitor) where the tickets costed people almost £300 per person to enter.
I then met an education and skills consultant, and within a week, he connected me to my first full time contract corporate role. Which is remarkable, because I spoke with many career advisers, and it took one young consultant to do it within a week. This was when I realised, if education is the key to success, networking is the hand that opens to doors.
Which is evidently true, as networking has enabled me to work with people from all walks of life and organisations on career pathways, fulfilling career aspirations, and uplifting underrepresented leaders and young people in the workplace. With my experience and knowledge, I now provide insights on start-ups, social entrepreneurship, and as well as tackling barriers to equality, diversity and inclusion within the start-up & business sector.
I joined the Positive Transformation Initiative and was elected Chair of the Young People’s & Tough Realities Board, as well as being a Board Member of Young People's Executive at the Advisory Board, The Positive Transformation Initiative (PTI) is a network of TRUSTED networks acting for positive societal change, real relationships with real people and its purpose is to help everyone find, create, resource and fund opportunities.
As a board member, I provide advice to the PTI Management Committee, giving the perspective of a young person, with a team that brings views from a very diverse and inclusive group, to ensure that PTI is fair, open and always listening to the insights of our leaders of tomorrow.
I now get to be involved in projects that not only positively impacts my local area, but enhances the lives of many internationally through collaboration and assisting the work being well performed by others. Although my career journey had twists and turns, it led to finding a purposeful mission and has been monumental to my own personal growth and opened more doors through cultivating a powerful network.
