Michael V’s story

I set up my digital agency Pink Umbrella a week after I left prison. I had the idea of starting the business whilst I was inside. I knew it would be hard to set up a company – it’s challenging at the best of times, let alone when you have a record. But I also had faith that it was a good idea, and that I had the drive and skills to do it.

I first started working with Forward in 2018, after a colleague mentioned they were expanding into enterprise support. The Enterprise Manager was great: she talked me through the various types of support they offered, and what would be the best options for me.

The year the pandemic hit was difficult – our ability to work with serving prisoners became almost impossible, so we focused more on finding ex-offenders once they come out of prison. The situation was been compounded by the fact that most of our customers are charities or non-for-profits, and a lot of them have been impacted financially by the pandemic.

It’s so reassuring, as an ex-offender, to get genuine support. Not only have Forward supported the development of my business, but they’ve introduced me to a network of other business owners who have similar lived experience and social goals for their companies. That network has been invaluable.

But things are starting to look up – we recently won two new contracts with Government agencies, and we used the quieter period during lockdown to set up a new, sister organisation, CodeAtt. CodeAtt is a not-for-profit that teaches life skills and industry specific coding skills to prison leavers and young people at risk of crime. It’s still in its early days, but we’re excited about what we can achieve in the future.

It’s so reassuring, as an ex-offender, to get genuine support. Not only have Forward supported the development of my business, but they’ve introduced me to a network of other business owners who have similar lived experience and social goals for their companies. That network has been invaluable. The people in it have had similar challenges starting their respective businesses, so we really get where one another are coming from. The network is also a great resource to bounce ideas off.

I’m always able to chat to Forward’s Enterprise Advisor Stephen whenever I need some advice. Forward also made it possible for me to chat to some of their clients in prison, which was an amazing way of being able to inspire the guys in the wings and show them what’s possible.

It’s hard to start a business, even without the label of being an ex-offender. But when you have the likes of Forward lending a hand, it makes a real difference.