Skills Shortage?

If these are words that chime with you, read on…

I firmly believe that tapping into the talents of marginalised groups and individuals must be part of resolving the recruitment challenges in business today.

I say ‘must’ rather than ‘can’ because in my world, a happy and healthy society thrives on embracing diversity, learning from different histories, listening to each other’s perspectives and supporting those in need, collectively.

Working with the sail training charity Seas Your Future* gives me the opportunity to contribute towards my personal ‘utopia’ and at the same time to address the skills shortage: we recruit most of our trainees from disadvantaged backgrounds and marginalised groups, nurture personal growth, open eyes to ocean science, technology and conservation, and inspire to aim higher in education, career and other aspects of life.

The work of Seas Your Future was rewarded by The Maritime Industries UK with the Diversity and Inclusion Champion Award. I was honoured to stand among the winners of other awards at the event in Titanic Belfast and congratulate all who were shortlisted.

Of course, our work with young people costs money: as a not-for-profit, we are continuously seeking partners, individual donors and sponsorship for anything from bursaries for young people to sail with us to capital investment that will allow us to expand our activities to a second ship.

Whether you want to contribute in small ways or make a regular donation through our weblink, are able to provide a bursary for a young person, or partner with us for larger sponsorship, we will be very grateful for your support.

Read more about our plans to expand our work on our website and contact enquiries@pelicanoflondon.org for discussion sponsorship and partnership options.

*Since writing this post, Seas Your Future has ceased to exist as a sail training charity. We, professional crew, volunteers and shore team carry on our vital youth development work on T/S Pelican of London with (not-for-profit) Pelican of London Ltd. Weblinks in this post have been changed in March 2025 to reflect this change.