Adam Sibley - Helping young people achieve their dreams

Frustrated that young people with talent often struggle to get the breaks they deserve, Adam Sibley decided to set up non-profit organisation Talented Young People.

In 2006, Adam had recently left university and was working for a housing association. Having grown up in rural Cornwall, he’d witnessed at first hand how young people often don’t get the breaks that their talent deserves. He took the decision to leave his job and create a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping young people to achieve great things.

Inspiring young people

Talented Young People aims to inspire, inform and connect young people aged 13-24. “I’m passionate about helping young people achieve great things, whatever their talent is,” explains Adam.

The Talented Young People website brings together a whole range of organisations and experts that can offer help to young people. It includes motivational articles, expert opinion and tips on topics ranging from becoming a top athlete to making it as a radio presenter. Young people can use the website to promote themselves and to talk to experts and other talented young people in the forum.

“It’s incredibly rewarding when young people get in touch to tell us how we’ve helped them get to where they want to go in life,” says Adam. “Another thing that makes me proud to have set up Talented Young People is when high profile companies and charities say that they like what we’re doing.”

Mentoring and motivating

Over the next few years Adam plans to build more partnerships between Talented Young People and other organisations and industry experts who can help young people. “One thing I want to do is make it easy for young people with dreams to access proper mentoring and support from people and organisations in the industry they want to get into.”

Adam has received a number of awards for his youth motivation work, including a Supporting Gifts and Talents award from the National Association for Gifted Children in 2007. His advice to young people who want to make their dreams a reality is: “Envisage it, believe it, achieve it! If your vision is clear enough and your belief strong enough you can achieve anything.”