The Lionesses

Emy, Ellie, Ocean-Tia, Selby and Olivia were not in education, employment or training (NEET) when they came together to complete the KEY+ Challenge. The group wanted a better future and found being NEET was hard with many of them facing additional challenging personal circumstances that had led them to that point including dealing with severe anxiety, living with ADHD & autism and being involved in the justice system.

Calling themselves The Lionesses, they joined forces after meeting at a local support group. They commenced their Stage 1 KEY+ project to let their hair down and form friendships with a trip to flamingo land. They planned their transport, searched for pricing and pitched their idea to panel before heading off and having fun. With a successful Stage 1 in the bag, they came back ready to hit the ground running at Stage 2 of The KEY+ Challenge where they decided to learn skills for the future with an enterprising project.

The Lionesses wanted to test out their entrepreneurial spirit by setting up their own micro business. The young women came up with the eco-friendly idea of creating new candle and wax products using recycled containers and environmentally friendly ingredients. With an idea in motion, The Lionesses got to planning by searching for information and seeking advice on how to create candles and what ingredients were needed before moving onto costing the items, working out quantities needed and pulling together their final budget before panel.

The young women were delighted to receive a yes at panel and the hard work continued. They scoured charity shops for used glasses and asked the community for donations to transform into candles. The group negotiated with one another on what scents to offer and worked hard on improving their communication skills to settle disagreements and to be the best team they could be.

The Lionesses produced their own logo before reaching out to Facebook groups to promote their items. They created flyers and leaflets and shared the news of their mini business to their friends and family. It didn’t take long before the group got a number of orders and were off to making a profit.

The Lionesses transformed through The KEY+ Challenge. It helped them to build skills for the future and see that there was opportunities available to them if only they believed in themselves and what they had to offer. Since their engagement, the group have progressed onto positive opportunities and have re-engaged. Ocean Tia is in full-time employment, Emy has re-engaged full-time in college studying photography, Selby is undertaking a work placement and studying in college, Ellie has passed her test and is studying childcare in College and Olivia is back in full-time education and working part-time.