• Swindon & Wiltshire Appointments
• Thursday March 2 2023
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Babbasa announces new board members to guide social enterprise organisation through continued growth

Babbasa, a Bristol-based social enterprise, which works to transform the lives of young people from ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds, has announced six new board members to help drive its vision and mission.

The new board members have been carefully selected to assist Babbasa with specific facets of operating a social enterprise, with their expertise brought in to help develop the HR, finance, legal, tech, procurement, and impact aspects of the organisation.

The new set of non-executive directors has been recruited from across the UK, having previously been made up of all Bristol residents. This decision reflects Babbasa’s long-term ambition to grow nationally and to replicate its social mobility model across other cities.

Babbasa’s decision to expand and refresh the board will strengthen the organisation’s accountability, and provide additional assurance to funders and potential donors, who are integral to achieving Babbasa’s ambitions to support more young people into employment, enterprise and education.

The announcement of the new board members follows on from the 2022 launch of Babbassa’s ‘OurCity2030’ campaign – a bold vision to close the equality gap in Bristol.

The city-wide initiative has been designed to support young people from low-income households, starting in inner-city Bristol, to secure meaningful careers by 2030, with ambitions to expand this across Bristol and beyond in the future.

The new members joining the Babbasa board are:

• Dr Aby Sankaran – impact & evaluation manager, University of Bristol
• Gurminder Kaur Nijjar – head of general counsel business partnering, Irwin Mitchell
• Claire Giraldo – chief people officer, Sideshow Group Ltd
• Jonathan O’Toole – product advisor and founding team member, Elvie
• Alexander Emenike – assistant director, Natwest Group
• Sanyalax Morrison – strategic procurement director, National Highways

Moon Executive Search supported Babbasa’s search for new Board members. Vanessa Moon, founding director of Moon Executive Search, said: “I was delighted to support Babbasa in a campaign to search for new Non-Exec Directors to join their board. This was a national search, and we had an overwhelming response which is a testament to all the great work that Poku and his team have achieved.”

Poku Pipim Osei, CEO & founder of Babbassa, said: “We are incredibly pleased to welcome the new members of the board to the team. We are in a very exciting stage at Babbassa, expanding our operational teams and bringing on more advisors and mentors to support our young people as we launch and develop the OurCity2030 campaign.

“We will be looking to the new board members for their expertise and help to guide us as we look to expand the reach of Babbasa further across the city and beyond.”