The evolving skyline of the West Midlands is to be transformed further still by the efforts of number of construction experts who have recently joined The Mayor’s Mentors initiative launched last year by the West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street.
The latest business to join the scheme, which is to helping young people develop life skills and gain the advice they need to flourish is the international consultancy and construction company Mace, which recently signed up a sixth senior member of its Midlands team.
26-year old Mustafa Abdillahi is one of the mentees who is currently being supported by Mace. He said: “It’s still early days but this has been a fantastic experience so far. I’ve been matched up with John Egerton, an operations director for Mace in the Midlands.
“With my background in mechanical engineering, I was unsure of what route to take next and John has spent time helping me to work that out. He’s encouraged me to study for a masters in project management. As a result, I’m now shadowing John and his team at Mace, whilst I work towards an MSc at the University of Birmingham.
“My ambition is to become an accredited Project Manager and then hopefully like John, I’ll one day reach director level and have the opportunity to lead on flagship construction projects across the region.”
Mustafa is originally from Sweden and moved to Birmingham when he was 15-years old. Working part-time as a CCTV operator, he graduated from University in 2017. Over the past year he has worked for a recruitment company whilst completing a 9-month leadership programme with UpRising, a national youth leadership development organisation.
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, said: “One of the first things I did after becoming Mayor was launch the Mayors Mentors initiative. The reason was that I passionately believe that one on one support through mentoring gives young people the best chance for the future.
“By sharing knowledge and experience, Mentors help to give young people the life skills and advice they need to flourish and fulfill their potential.
“Already we have exceeded our target of connecting over 1,000 young people in the West Midlands with mentors and it is great that Mustafa will be the latest person to benefit as well as working on such transformational projects.”
John Egerton, operations director for Mace, said: “The Mayor’s Mentors scheme is a great way of helping young people like Mustafa to prosper, simply by imparting some of your skills, knowledge and experience. A number of my colleagues have already signed-up to the programme and I’d encourage any professional who is working in the West Midlands and capable of motivating others to seriously consider getting involved. It’s just a couple of hours each month and a very positive experience.”
Mace’s team in the West Midlands have delivered many key infrastructure projects in the region including the project management of Birmingham New Street’s redevelopment, HSBC’s new HQ at Arena Central, and the redevelopment of the former municipal bank at 3 Centenary Square.
