A key focus area of Cemex’s Social Impact Strategy is to provide community members with access to education and workplace training that enables inclusive long-term upward mobility. We aim to contribute to diminishing youth unemployment through our programs and partnerships with global and local organisations to enhance employability capabilities and income opportunities for youth.
Actively supporting this key element of our Social Impact Strategy, Aman Jandu, Business Development Manager, UK Materials, has recently joined an innovative mentoring programme, Future Makers 2023. This aims to support young people across North Derbyshire, who may be interested in exploring or pursuing careers working in the built environment. This might include designers, architects, surveyors, structural engineers, builders, and construction workers.
The 2023 mentoring programme, led by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership in partnership with The Work-Wise Foundation and funded by the Careers & Enterprise Company, launched in March. Aman, already a STEM ambassador, felt his experiences would benefit older secondary school aged children with CV writing, career advice, and on hearing about the Future Makers programme, got in touch with the Work-wise foundation.
Aman said: “It really seemed to align with all my motivations of becoming a STEM ambassador. Being part of the programme, I’ll be hoping to educate and attract individuals into the industry with the growing age/skill gap, helping to break down external pre misconceptions. The industry has moved a lot in a short period of time… digitalisation/innovation/sustainability. I’m really keen to give back and help develop young individuals to build their confidence. The programme is a great example of how partnership working can strengthen the links between education and business and help ensure that more school leavers are developing the skills they need to enter the workplace.”
Over the coming few months Aman is planning to help his mentee with interview techniques, take them on a site visit to a Cemex plant to provide visualisation of the end product (concrete/aggregates) demonstrating the vertically integrated nature of the company, and then to work together on a Circular Economy project which his mentee will then present back at the end of the project.