Upskill Universe

Read time: 6 mins Added date: 18/10/2024

Upskill Universe is driving diversity in the Tech Sector thanks to the support of the Lloyds Black Entrepreneurs Programme.

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Driving Diversity in Tech

Having taught himself to build websites and apps in his early years, Gori Yahaya was aware of the fact many people can feel really intimidated by tech. He wanted to help people reduce their fears and build their confidence around tech and this became the catalyst for launching his third start-up.

Partnering with large tech firms such as Google and others, whilst training businesses up and down the UK, he saw the wider benefits of the increased confidence and career progression that learning new, in-demand skills, such as data and AI, can bring.

Gori is the founder and CEO of UpSkill Universe, which counts Google, the NHS and BT amongst its clients. In the past nine years, he’s expanded his bootstrapped tech start-up into a team of 20-plus in six different countries, providing live training to over 700,000 people.

One of Upskill Universe’s main goals is to deliver courses that align business success with societal progress. Diversity and inclusion are a huge part of that focus, with Gori quoting a statistic from 2016 as a major motivation for him - Black employees in the UK with degrees earn 23.1% less on average than their white counterparts.

Overcoming obstacles

UpSkill Universe is Gori’s third tech start-up and he’s tackled plenty of barriers along the way. The first of these was facing his fear of finances head-on. This resulted in him taking evening classes to learn more about the basics of cash flow and accounting.

The second significant hurdle was having to go out and find his own mentors and role models in other sectors because there was a real lack of people he could relate to from similar backgrounds in the tech space.

And when trying to grow his previous business, it quickly became apparent to Gori there are more barriers for Black business owners when it comes to raising investment than for white founders, hence he focussed on bootstrapping his business. Unfortunately, he’s not alone in finding it difficult to access funding. Between 2009 and 2019, Black founders, who represent 3.5% of the UK’s population, represented just 0.24% of the total sum invested by venture capitalists.

After finally finding a good accountant who helped him to upskill, he also ran into recruitment difficulties. Gori confesses that he got the ‘hire slow, fire fast’ approach the wrong way around initially. He improved his people management skills by gathering honest feedback from employees and ex-employees.

“I was always hiring fast and firing super slow. I didn’t have the people management skills to move people out of the business when it was clear they weren’t the right fit,” he admits.

Investing in diversity

The business has developed its Learning Experience Platform (LXP) not just to train people in new technologies. It’s about a tailored approach to boosting the more human and technical skills needed in the workplace, overcoming resistance to change and levelling up to boost your value or inspire people to start their own businesses.

Gori passionately believes the current education system doesn’t leave people with the necessary skills to thrive in the modern workplace. His purpose is to create a happier, healthier and wealthier life for everyone, especially those from minority ethnic backgrounds globally.

He has many innovative ideas on how to achieve this through encouraging greater diversity in the tech sector, including:

Elevating pioneer stories and sharing their pathways to success
Educating hiring managers whilst challenging incestuous recruitment policies where employers are all fishing in the same talent pools
Equipping leaders and people managers with the conversational frameworks to have better career conversations with diverse team members and build pathways to leadership

“If as much was invested in diversity and inclusion as has been invested in innovation, the tech sector landscape would look very different right now,” Gori states.

Here’s a brief look at just two of the many courses and programmes within his platform, aimed at addressing the common barriers people face.

Allyship in Action

This course trains people on improving their communication skills so they can thrive and amplify other voices at the same time. It’s about becoming more confident in elevating others while they climb and not being afraid to have conversations around sensitive topics.

Own your difference

This training provides hands-on, role-specific training helping you to avoid code-switching in a corporate setting, build your confidence through a supportive network, and harness your authenticity as a powerful tool for personal and professional success.

Representation matters

UpSkill Universe is leading by example when it comes to representation. With many of its trainers coming from minority ethnic backgrounds and delivering community-based training and bootcamps, the business is investing in society to put more skilled individuals into tech careers or self-employment.

While more of this type of training is being done now than 10 years ago, there’s still a long way to go. Gori and his team have already achieved so much, and are ambitious for the future. Their future goals include:

To hit the milestone of 1 million people trained in the next two years
To become an even larger borderless business by doing more work globally with a focus on the US and Asia
To reduce the barrier to entry for tech careers so the next generation of AI leaders, pioneers and game-changers can thrive

A two-way training street

Despite being immersed in the tech sector, Gori hasn’t lost sight of the importance of face-to-face relationships. UpSkill Universe has been a Lloyds Bank business customer since its foundation, which has delivered many benefits.

For example, the Black Entrepreneurs Programme is proving hugely beneficial. Gori has learnt from his peers in roundtables on common growth challenges, international trading and launching new products.

“We’re part of the seven-figure-plus group hosted by Lloyds Bank. These meetings have been super insightful for me, hearing from other Black businesses that are at the level we’re at and facing similar issues has been beneficial in shaping our growth strategy,” he says.

On the flip side, UpSkill Universe partners with Lloyds Bank to deliver the Lloyds Bank Academy Start Up, Scale Up Programme, which guides businesses through a free course to build a roadmap for growth.

While Gori’s already achieved an incredible amount in less than 10 years, not least getting a mention from Beyonce’s charity team during a concert and being invited to speak at 10 Downing Street on how to help black communities invest in skills, there’s so much more to come.

As the worldwide expansion of UpSkill Universe gathers pace, make sure to watch this space.