The Programme
Our next programmes are being scheduled to commence from September 2024.
Typically, we take 12-15 ex-offenders (called entrepreneurs) who work with student and business mentors to formulate their business idea into a business plan and at the end of the course they present in the form of a Dragons' Den style event to a group of industry professionals who give feedback and help in establishing the business. At the end of the university programme, there is a graduation ceremony which is significant for many people who have never graduated from high school.
The entrepreneurs are paired with a Business Mentor and 2 Student Advisors; one from business and one from law background who work as a team to formulate the business plan. The programme runs for 8 weeks, typically, Wednesday evenings with additional weekly mentoring sessions. We work with a clearly defined syllabus which has a combination of classroom study and industry support.
The programme has been running for five years in partnership with various universities across the country such as King’s College London, Queen Mary University London, University of Bradford and University of West England.
We create community and purpose for marginalised men and women.
We work with referring charity/third sector partner organisations to attract our participants.
* Updates: As of December 2023, we have had over 100 graduates and the re-offending rate is 8%.
We are now seeking to grow our work, bring scale, and establish a sustainable structure for ReMAKE across the country.
The Team
Our Trustees are Jivaan Bennett, Marisol Milsom, Harry Hammond and Kameel Khan.
The core delivery team comprises of Emma Booysen, Omar Mentesh, Drew O'Brien, Leon Morris and Lily Mallabar.
We are also advised and supported by Rowen Bainbridge from Spencer Stewart, Tim Levy from Cocoon Wealth, James Timpson from Prison Reform Trust, Lord Ramsbotham, Formerly Chief Inspector of Prisons, Rory Stewart, Former Prisons Minister, Tim Farazmand from Palantine, David Apparicio from the Chrysalis Programme, Harold Gittleman and many more.
We also work with external businesses – particularly the aspects of motivation and business ideas.
Hear more from our Founder Judge Kameel Khan
"We teach the social capital required for them to be successful, but more importantly we create a community and create purpose in people who have been in prison."
Background
Dr Kameel Khan is the founder of Project ReMAKE in the UK.
Kameel Khan is a lawyer, Judge and former law professor. Before practicing he taught law at University College, University of London, Reading University and the University of the West Indies. He was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. While teaching he defended people on death row from the Caribbean before the Privy Council (UK), the highest court of Appeal for that region. He became a tax partner at a global law firm and later a judge in the Tax Court in the UK.
Kameel first came across Project ReMADE while spending time as a fellow at Stanford University, USA. ReMADE is delivered over four months, and is run in tandem with Stanford University law students, business students, and with mentors from Silicon Valley. Through out the course students are given extensive teaching on business planning topics, helping to flesh out their business idea, and develop a knowledge tool kit so that they can understand and operate all aspects of their business venture. The opportunity it gives its participants is overwhelming, and the case studies show its profound success.
What appears to have struck Kameel the most though is the power of the network that ReMADE helps the budding entrepreneurs to develop. Kameel says that the participants of the course when coming to Stanford “will buy the hats, they will buy the Stanford t-shirts, and wear them on campus”, a sign of how they feel they are now part of that community. This shows just how powerful a vehicle opening up the most cloister parts of our society to those who would not have access to them can be. It cannot only provide people with knowledge and tools, but with a sense of ownership, and of belonging.
Having seen this Kameel decided to bring this programme to the UK, and Project ReMAKE became a project based on the Stanford University Project ReMADE in the US. At its launch and during its operation, the model has proved successful in the UK. The project will run at King's College London, with support delivered to the mentees by King's criminology students. The business training will be delivered by Band of Brothers, which has extensive experience delivering business-training courses, and supporting people with criminal records into employment.
Project ReMAKE was created by Judge Kameel Khan and is based on Project ReMADE at Stanford University.
