Diageo’s Menezes to lead youth unemployment charity

Ivan Menezes, CEO at drinks giant Diageo, has been named as the new Movement to Work chairman, a charity that aims to reduce youth unemployment through work placements.

Diageo’s Ivan Menezes is the new Movement to Work chairman

Menezes takes over from Marc Bolland, the former Marks and Spencer CEO, who founded the coalition.

Movement to Work was founded in 2015 when Bolland gathered 15 UK firms with the aim of working together to provide opportunities for young people aged from 16-24 years not in education, employment or training (NEET).

There are more than one million young people in the UK with NEET status, with the group aiming to break the “no experience, no job; no job no experience” cycle.

Movement to Work now encompasses 240 employers across the public, private and voluntary sectors and has so far provided 59,000 work placements. More than 50% of those completing placements go on to employment or return to education.

The charity – which has backing from the government, the TUC trade union, and business organisation CBI – is due to work with more than 100,000 young people before the end of 2018.

Menezes’ appointment as Movement to Work chairman follows news that Diageo will cut more than 100 jobs at is bottling plants in Scotland – a move trade union GMB Scotland has called a “gross betrayal”.

“Training our young people and helping them into work must be an imperative for all businesses that want to succeed, especially as our labour market evolves after Britain leaves the European Union,” Menezes said.

“Through Movement to Work, we are able to provide the experience, skills and confidence to help young unemployed people support themselves, their communities and ultimately society as a whole. I am honoured to be the new chairman for Movement to Work and would like to thank Marc for his achievements in founding the Movement and driving it to such success in its first four years.”

Bolland added: “As chairman since the Movement’s inception, I am proud of the impact we have collectively made so far on transforming over 59,000 young lives. I would like to sincerely thank the leaders of the 240+ employers and delivery partners in the Movement, their staff, volunteers and the central programme team; all of whom work tirelessly to make our aims a reality.

“I’m very confident that the Movement, with Ivan’s leadership, will make a significant contribution to equipping many more young people with the knowledge, skills and experience to allow them to enter the job market and pursue meaningful careers.”