Theme: The Spark

Thank you to everyone that made the TEDxYouth@Croydon event a resounding success! Thank you to the speakers for their tireless pursuit to share an idea worth spreading.

To the team members, volunteers, host school, production team and partners who helped along with the speakers to touch, move and inspire the next generation.

See you all again next year, for a bigger and better event!

Here are the photos on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/tedxyouthcroydon/

Until then, ignite the Spark and follow the flame!

The Brit School For Performing Arts
60 The Crescent
Croydon, CR0 2HN
United Kingdom

Tom Messenger

Tom teaches mathematics at a secondary school in Hampshire and is also studying for a Philosophy masters at Southampton. In 2010 he helped to organise the first ever Street Child World Cup in Durban, South Africa. Boys and girls who had experienced homelessness from eight different countries were represented. Through the football tournament, an arts program and a conference these children shared their hopes and dreams and fought for their rights. Through meeting them and hearing their stories Tom learned that the children who are ignored are often the ones with the most incredible stories and untapped potential. In Brazil in 2014 it’s happening all over again.

The Mandem

Mandem on the Wall is an online comedy series created by three young talented writers and performers, Joivan Wade, Percelle Ascott and Dee Kartier. The first episode aired on 24th December 2011 and they have since gone on to release nine episodes receiving 2,500,000 views in just over a year. Since then The Mandem have worked with various companies and are currently being featured on the New E4 comedy drama, “Youngers”.

Najite Graham

Being a poet, musician, emerging young leader and social entrepreneur, Najite can be described as a ‘socially conscious’ mixing pot. As a performer, she has supported various established artists such as Mobo Award Winning Rapper Akala, Def Jam Poetry star Black Ice and in her early days she has supported the likes of Skepta and JME. Najite had her first poem published at 9 years old and landed her first commission in her teens. After dropping out of mainstream education and becoming self taught, she has both set up and been involved in multiple social initiatives and delivered talks and poetry. Most recently at the House of Commons.

John Okungbaiye

High Spirit Bags Ltd was founded in 2013 by John and Joshua Okungbaiye. Their company creates backpacks with unique zipping designs in order to protect your possessions from theft and loss, particularly during travel , domestically and internationally. The idea came to them whilst in New York on holiday. The brothers are from London and have a burning desire to find practical solutions to everyday problems. Their business has won numerous business awards. These include the Virgin Pioneer Award, Shell LiveWIRE Grand Ideas Award and investment from Richard Branson. In addition, John is also an ambassador for their Virgin Pioneers.

Vivian Arsanious

Vivian is a passionate young educator with a flare for history and education. She obtained an undergraduate degree in Education from the University of Alberta in Canada, and she is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in the History of International Relations at the London School of Economics. Vivian is passionate about the role of history in education. “History shapes the way people interact with your own society, often times people see history as part of the past and not relevant. How wrong they are!” Vivian also volunteers her time working with local education and youth focused charities such as Cambridge House and Education Enterprise.

The Brit School Dance Troupe

The multi-talented students of The Brit School deliver a dance performance showcasing the excellent technical standards of their students.

Alex Quang & Tom Chigbo

Alex was born and raised in Croydon. He dropped out of university after the first year in search of his passion. He volunteered in Croydon with vInspired’s Team v Project and met London Citizens at a training residential. He loved volunteering so much, as his passion is working to empower young people and give them a voice, that he is now a member of Citizens UK Team. Tom is a community organiser for South London Citizens, working with a range of faith, education and civic institutions. He studied geography at the University of Cambridge and completed an MA in Community Organising at Queen Mary, University of London. He received the St John’s College Larmor Award, was recognised by Rare Rising Stars as the UK’s No. 1 black student and was named in the Power List of Britain’s 100 most influential black people.

Rosina St. James

23 year-old Rosina is the former Chair of the British Youth Council which has over 7 million young people. A graduate of London School of Economics, she studied Social Policy and received an award for her “Outstanding Contribution” to the university. She also received a Rare Rising Star Award for being one of the top ten most outstanding black students in the UK. ?Rosina is a Youth Participation Support Worker in Croydon and is currently a Youth Ambassador. This position engages young Londoners and inspires those involved in crime or at risk of violence and crime, to feel empowered to change their lives. She has recently set up a business that helps to resettle offenders back into society.

Gary Smith

Gary Smith, Founder & CEO of Brainbook Ltd started with an idea at Campus Party 2012 , the biggest technology festival in the world aka ‘Glastonbury for geeks’!. Without a business background, he was able to gain support from Rockstar Youth who are the UK’s biggest entrepreneurial mentoring organisation and was also a delivery partner of Start-up loans. Utilising the minimum funding and mentoring, he was able to develop the project ‘Dyslexia Toolbox’ and after a year he was invited to speak at Campus Party 2013 at the O2 Arena showcasing the final product.

Chriag Patel

Chirag has a masters in electrical engineering from Imperial College London. He has a wealth of experience in business, financial and loyalty marketing strategy for employers such as Bain & Co and eBay. He recently left his position as associate at venture capital firm Wellington Partners to focus full time on steering Eduvee in the right direction. Eduvee is a new way of learning. It was founded by Chirag and two engineering graduates partners, who wanted to bring education up to date. Their aim is to take the best practices of technology giants from around the world and bring them together to build a great online experience with solid educational content.

Blessing Mareger

Blessing is a 20 year old multi-award winning young entrepreneur, author & inspirational speaker. He started his first business at the age of 16, which was a contract cleaning company. The business was a success. It turned over £10k a month, employed 6 cleaning staff, in only 3 months. He also became the co-founder & chair of “Not Just a Youth Enterprise”. A youth led social enterprise that developed their own brand of fair trade products. Blessing is also the co-founder and project manager of Bright Futures Enterprise, a youth led social enterprise, on a mission to inspire and educate young people to become entrepreneurs. Blessings will share his journey and secrets of how to become a young successful entrepreneur.

Justina Kehinde

Justina is an award winning poet, jazz singer, actress and director. She made theatrical history in 2012 by directing, acting and co-producing the first all black female production on a Cambridge stage, before taking the show to London for a sell out performance. She is a creative editor and contributor for Independent Women’s magazine, Magnify and was twice voted as one of the top ten black students in the UK in 2013. Her poetry ranges from concerns surrounding diasporic identity to human trafficking, Justina is also studying English Literature and Social Anthropology at Cambridge University.