Connecting young people to the motor trade – Tokunbo Ajasa-Oluwa, GoThinkBig


Building your people power – AM & IMI People Conference report How to create a people culture – Daksh Gupta, Marshall Motor Group CEO The motor industry neds to invest in professionalism – Steve Nash, IMI Training in-house with a staff academy – Elaine Ashworth, Peter Vardy How the independents can help motor retail as a whole – Stuart James, IGA The importance of people for a best-selling brand – Chris Roberts, Vauxhall How to analyse your training programme's return on investment – Dr Paul Spear, IMI Connecting young people to the motor trade – Tokunbo Ajasa-Oluwa, head of GoThinkBig
The AM & IMI People Conference 2014 was co-sponsored by:

Thousands of young people in the UK have a passion for motoring, but struggle to find a way into the sector, according to Tokunbo Ajasa-Oluwa, head of GoThinkBig.

Motoring has been identified as one of nine passion points by people aged between 18 and 30, alongside others such as fashion, music and technology by an initiative launched by AM’s parent company Bauer, in October 2012 called GoThinkBig.

This free-to-use online hub (www.gothinkbig.co.uk) was created with O2 in response to record numbers of UK youth unemployment as a means to bridge the gap between the millions of young people Bauer reaches through its brands (that include Empire, Grazia, FHM, Kiss FM and Heat) and employers.

Tokunbo Ajasa-Oluwa, head of GoThinkBig (GTB), said: “Among the biggest hurdles for young people looking for experience or employment is the lack of insight or opportunity.

“They may have a considerable passion for motoring, but don’t have a clue how to work on the sales or service side of a car brand. Their contact networks are limited; no one in their family has experience, so the dream never becomes reality.”

Young people have a passion for motoring, but lack the contacts, says GoThinkBig's Tokunbo Ajasa-Oluwa – Click quote to tweet

GTB found that contact-building was hampered by the fact that in only two UK regions more than 50% of businesses publicly offer work experience opportunities. Working to address this, Ajasa-Oluwa said that every time a dealer had an opportunity available, GTB would work to match up a young person that could be deemed as “untapped talent”.

His ambition was to see more than 50% of businesses in every region offering work experience within the next 15 months.

Ajasa-Oluwa said 40% of GTB’s users had identified motoring as a passion. But only 8% had looked into getting experience in the sector. He said GTB could bring dealer groups and manufacturers looking for new, young talent together with the right young people “enriching their offer when they are sitting opposite you in your dealership”.

♦ View images from the conference here

Since GTB’s launch it has provided more than 10,000 employment opportunities (work experience, internships and full-time roles) to its audience of an average 16,000 monthly, registered unique users. GTB is working with 35 organisations, including the BBC, IBM, Santander and Sony Music.

“The ambition amongst young people is there to get into motoring. Our role is to position ourselves to pull together the bespoke opportunities that are relevant to your business and uncover talent – for free.”

Businesses using the service will be provided tailor-made content to promote them and being part of Bauer, its brands can be used to amplify the opportunities available via GTB.

“Being able to bring motoring into the portfolio of companies we work with will see Go Think Big come to fruition.”

For more information email: tokunbo@gothinkbig.co.uk