Lee Walker

Lee Walker grew up in Stockport, just south of Manchester. He studied at Keele University. After graduating he went on to be awarded an MBA (Masters in Business Administration) also at Keele.

He then returned to Manchester and set up his own successful business as an ‘All-Night Alcohol Delivery service – The ‘Crateman’. It was successful partly he believes because it adopted the same business model as that subsequently used by Deliveroo, Just Eat, and many others. Order from home and get the product delivered to your door in less than 30 minutes. Furthermore as a young man in his twenties he was often invited in to join the party !

Whilst profitable however the business was stressful and often involved working long anti-social hours, so Lee sold up and moved on. By chance he met some former friends from Keele in Leicestershire and (long story short) moved to the County. Like many people new to the world of not-for-profit businesses he started out as a volunteer working for no pay. In his case for a provider of alternative education for NEET young people (not in education, employment, or training). After a few months gaining experience he was offered a paid position

The opportunity to set up the Youth Education Project (YEP) arose when Lee learned of a new contract soon to be awarded. He and a fellow employee decided that they could do more to promote the welfare of young people by setting up their own company. And like many others they sought advice from CASE (Cooperative and Social Enterprise Development). YEP was registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee on 5 October 2012 and has been trading successfully ever since.

YEP were successful in being awarded the contract. In the early days of the company a number of other providers of alternative education and training were forced to close. This turn of events diminished the competition from other providers and helped YEP to grow. The Skills Funding Agency were tightening the rules vis-à-vis the funding of apprenticeships but fortunately YEP was not in this business. They offered education and training (predominantly ‘study programmes’) but not paid apprenticeships.

The longer term success of YEP has turned on combining business acumen with the ‘soft skills’ necessary to engage with disaffected young people. YEP has a particular talent for working with young people who have an Education, Health, and Care Plan. Such learners can attract substantial extra funding. This has enabled YEP to achieve and sustain a turnover of over £½ million per year.

All the learners at YEP have chosen to participate in its programmes, none of them ‘has to’ be there. This creates a different environment from that at a school or a pupil referral unit. Its Motor Mechanics course is particularly attractive to young men and is unique in the city. Lee gets great satisfaction from seeing young people who have been labelled as failures at school go on to succeed whilst with the Youth Education Project. Lee Walker does not routinely add the exclamation mark after YEP! but is very happy for other staff and learners to do so.