Fair Start Scotland helped Shelly-Ann find employment giving her the courage to start her own company – which went on to win a prestigious award.
Why Shelly-Ann joined Fair Start Scotland
Dr. Shelly-Ann completed a PHD in Economics and has been unemployed since graduating in 2018. She applied for several positions but was repeatedly faced with rejection emails and because of her current situation, she was unable to gain any financial support.
Dr. Shelly-Ann joined Fair Start Scotland after seeing an advert on Facebook. She clicked on the link and completed the online application – at the time she didn’t think much of it but her luck was about to change for the better.
How Fair Start Scotland helped
Dr. Shelly-Ann was introduced to her personal adviser, Colm, who offered her advice every step of the way. She attended several interview and interpersonal skills training classes facilitated by our in-house tutor, Michael. Dr. Shelly-Ann was able to make friends with others at the classes and eventually felt much more prepared and confident to attend a job interview.
With an updated CV, she applied to Lloyds Bank and Smart PA Global where she was invited to attend an interview. Dr. Shelly-Ann felt confident and prepared for interview thanks to the training she had received. She was subsequently offered both jobs.
Getting the job
Shelly-Ann accepted a role as a business support executive at Smart PA Global. After one year, and a lot of helpful advice from adviser Colm, she embarked on her entrepreneurial journey and registered her market research and academic intelligence company, the Economic Lead Global Limited.
To her surprise, in its first year her company was awarded Research Company of the Year 2021/22 for the BAME category in Scotland by Prestige Awards UK, and was granted a Santander Scholarship which provided her business with financial support and fantastic international exposure.
What’s next?
Dr. Shelly-Ann’s long-term goals are to expand her client base by serving more corporate clients globally. As part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, she continues to engage the BAME community in Scotland by using her research skills to produce evidence-based research. She aims is to identify and address the social ills and challenges, whereby her work presents informed findings and recommendations to better inform the Scottish Government and general public.
Shelly-Ann continues to stay connected with the Fair Start Scotland team and is grateful for the opportunities they have provided her in successfully entering the job market. She is also thankful for the business support the team has provided once she embarked upon her entrepreneurial journey.
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