XO Bikes, a south London-based social enterprise is training ex-offenders in bike repair and maintenance with the aim of keeping them from reoffending as they reintegrate into society. What began as an idea by the company’s co-founder, Stef Jones, is now breaking cycles of reoffending with almost two years of training. The social enterprise restores second-hand bicycles, some of which are repainted in signature matte ‘swag black’. Men who have recently been released from prison and are referred to XO Bikes receive six weeks of training and help with travel and meal expenses.
XO Bikes also offers business mentorship and has plans to build other social enterprises in clothing, fitness, and barbering; plans geared towards employing ex-offenders. Training at XO Bikes has already led to significant transformations in the lives of its trainees, 19 of whom have so far completed the program, and thirteen have secured jobs within the industry – three of them are full-time employees at XO Bikes.
Stef Jones left a 20-year career in advertising to answer what he describes as a higher calling, through which he became a Christian. After his conversion, through his local church, Jones responded to a call for chaplaincy volunteers at HMP Brixton. Refusing to just be a chaplain, Jones provided business mentorship, which led him to set up Onwards and Upwards, a charity aimed at building a string of social enterprises to train and employ ex-prisoners.
Reoffending in the UK by prison leavers is an £18bn problem. Fifty percent of ex-convicts will reoffend within 12 months of release. Jones believed that lack of work was a root cause, and created the charity to help ex-prisoners gain employment. He not only wanted to give the socially excluded a chance, but he also began to investigate the potential marketability of ex-offenders.
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