Susan Kaye, CEO and co-founder of 'Tsu’Chu Biz' argues for an entrepreneurial Olympic legacy
We hear a lot about the Olympic
legacy; how it will provide thousands of new homes, green spaces and transport
links for some of the most deprived parts of London. That’s something to
celebrate, but many people openly wonder whether the cost, over £9 billion
pounds, is worth it to produce this investment as a by-product. Going from a
giant sporting event to a giant regeneration project may seem like a daunting,
even incongruous transition, but the fact that it is the Olympics rather than a
conventional regeneration scheme delivering this, actually represents a far
more profound opportunity. Central to the Olympic legacy will be the very event
itself; ordinary people from across the country (with London especially well
represented) are coming together to work to the limits of their endurance, for
a goal they have set themselves, with every hope of achieving it. In a time of
austerity, and economic stagnation, scepticism about the Olympics is
understandable, but one only has to look to the levels of support and pride
people have in their local athletes, and realise the value of having champions
and role models from every strata of society, to see the potential of the
project.
That potential is something I can
personally attest to from a unique project that I have the privilege of
running: ‘Tsu’Chu Biz’. Tsu’Chu is the name of one of the oldest forms of football
in the world, played in China from the 3rd century BC. It was
used in Chinese military training, and like our own football, it was played by
everyone from emperor to peasant. Like the Olympics we seek to revive an
ancient legacy for very modern purposes; to help young, poor London kids. Poor
youths get a lot of abuse; they’re called chavs, hoodies, criminals, and are
assumed to have no abilities, no skills and no drive. However, when kicking a
ball around, these young people are actually working hard, following rules,
using team work and showing initiative. The value of sports like football is
that they provide a framework for physical and mental achievement accessible to
anyone with a ball and a free patch of ground. The ‘Tsu’Chu Biz’ course
recognises that this provides a ready frame of engagement; a system young
people understand and excel at; and uses this as a basis to teach young people
entrepreneurship, how to start up a small business and develop the necessary
personal qualities and business skills needed to do so.
The state of the art sports
facilities, the Olympic Park, the new transport links and perhaps most
importantly the amount of national international attention concentrated in the
East End, presents a unique window of opportunity. My own project already
attracts funds from Football clubs and the City; imagine the amount of groups
in the sporting, financial and business worlds who will have their eyes fixed
on the Olympic park area. Working in partnership with powerful institutions from
across London and beyond, we could use the remarkable sporting facilities as
engines of entrepreneurship, drawing in local people, especially disengaged
young people, into education and training, and provide a portal into work and
social enterprise. The Olympics itself provides an unprecedented platform to
attract partners and investors into the East End, and a sporting event of this
magnitude is sure to engage young people even further in sports. If we
work together, if we build a lasting legacy, we can make of the Olympics a real
road to prosperity for London’s poorest.