Fajer Rabia
2010 Inspiring Young Woman Winner
At 25 Fajer has accomplished a staggering amount in the last seven years and doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon! She arrived in Manchester aged 18, newly married and started work at the Learn Direct centre in Rusholme. She quickly realised that there was a real need in the local community for women only courses and despite her colleagues not being supportive of it, she commandeered a small room with 5 PCs. Within a year she set up Inspired Sisters and saw her business become the largest Learn Direct Centre in Manchester and the biggest franchise provider for Manchester City College.
After the birth of her first child and during her second pregnancy, Fajer was confined in Pakistan and ran her business via a trusted colleague. Unfortunately the business failed to flourish and Fajer returned to find her business near collapse. Undaunted, she rebuilt the business within twelve months and rehired all her staff. Clients now come from all backgrounds and age groups and Fajer’s success is down to imaginatively responding to the needs of her clients rather than ‘filling courses’.
Ongoing Projects
- Opening a third centre in Manchester
- Launching Inspiring Sisters in Pakistan
- Launching Inspiring Sisters on behalf of the UN in Afghanistan
- Producing 5 plays on the themes of: Forced Marriages, Drugs & Alcohol Abuse, Extremism & Violence, Domestic Violence and Teenage Pregnancies. These plays will tour schools.
- A monitoring and role model programme at male prison, Forest Bank in Salford.