Two Birmingham-based businesses – Anster and EPIC Youth – have partnered to create and support better outcomes for children and young people, starting with the funding of EPIC Youth’s first ever digital marketing apprentice.

EPIC Youth is a business mentoring programme which provides individuals aged 14-25 who have a business idea with grants, mentoring and business coaching. Designed to help young people be fearless in their own ability to enhance their career, EPIC Youth exists to support them in their growth as entrepreneurs who will contribute to a better, more inclusive society.

With youth unemployment figures drastically increasing during the Covid-19 pandemic, earlier this year saw Antser, one of the UK’s leading providers of transformational solutions for the health, education, and social care sectors, fund EPIC Youth’s first ever Digital Marketing apprentice, in a bid to further support courageous young people.

The talented recipient was 25-year-old Lana Bass, who began her apprenticeship at the beginning of the summer, after coming across this opportunity through Creative Alliance, a leading provider of creative apprenticeships for businesses across Birmingham.

Having previously completed a Childhood and Youth Studies degree Lana, who has always known she wanted to go into digital marketing, said this opportunity has united her two biggest passions.

She said:

“I thought it was an amazing opportunity. I was able to do digital marketing whilst bringing in what I liked about wanting to help children and young people. It has almost smashed them together and created the perfect job for me.

“It has been absolutely amazing. After a month in, I have been assigned jobs and tasks that get my brain working and constantly teach me new and exciting stuff. From day one here, it has been a great experience.

“This apprenticeship has not only provided me with the opportunity to get my foot in the door but to learn and work alongside industry leading experts in social care and to also lay down the foundation of my future career in Digital Marketing.”

“Everyone has been great. I have such a strong support network here; I’ve been working with people in EPIC Youth and across different parts of the network, who have all been fantastic. I feel like I’ve just got this massive support community – there are so many people helping me along my journey.”

Sharing her advice with others looking to do an apprenticeship, Lana said: “Just go for it. In the long run, it is going to be so much more beneficial. I know I would have spent the rest of my life thinking ‘What if I had taken that little bit of a risk? What if I had taken a bit of a pay cut to be able to expand my skills and make my great career for myself?’”