Sodexo UK & Ireland has welcomed senior business leaders to London for a King’s Seeing is Believing visit with Business in the Community, focused on barriers to social mobility and the role businesses can play in addressing them.
Hosted by Jean Renton, Chief Executive Officer of Sodexo UK & Ireland, the visit took place on 8 October and examined challenges including poverty, education inequality, housing insecurity and limited access to employment.
Representatives from organisations including Atos, DLA Piper, Hogan Lovells, BDO, London School of Economics, KPMG and The Purpose Coalition participated in the visit.
Delegates heard directly from community organisations and people with lived experience of barriers affecting social mobility.
The programme included visits and discussions with several of Sodexo’s charity partners working across education, employability, food insecurity and homelessness.
These included The Switch, which supports children and young people through employability, career awareness, mentoring, volunteering and work experience programmes.
Oasis UK works across education and healthcare, while Trussell provides emergency food and practical support to people experiencing financial hardship and hunger.
Change Please supports people experiencing homelessness through barista training, paid employment opportunities and wider support designed to help participants move towards long-term employment and independence.
The visit forms part of Sodexo’s wider work around employment pathways, skills development and partnerships with organisations supporting people experiencing barriers to opportunity.
Jean Renton, Chief Executive Officer of Sodexo UK & Ireland, said: “At Sodexo, our ambition is to support people and strengthen places. Visits like this are a powerful reminder of the challenges many people face, but also of the determination, expertise and partnership making a real difference every day.
“Creating stronger communities means helping people access the foundations they need to thrive, whether that is food security, education, skills or meaningful employment. These issues are often deeply connected and addressing them requires joined-up solutions.
“The King’s Seeing is Believing programme brings these challenges to life in a way that no report or statistic can. Hearing first-hand from people who rely on vital support services creates greater understanding, strengthens our resolve to tackle inequality and helps us identify where we can have the greatest impact.
“By working together across business, charities, communities and government, we can break down barriers, create opportunities and build a more resilient future for everyone.”
Ndidi Okezie OBE, Chief Executive of Business in the Community, added, “Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. Too many people still face barriers shaped by where they grow up, the networks around them, and the pathways available into good work. If we are serious about improving social mobility, business must move beyond good intentions and act with greater focus, urgency, and collective ambition.
“BITC exists to help turn that ambition into action. Our role is to bring businesses together, connect them with communities and organisations closest to the issues, and create the conditions for practical, place-based change. By helping employers listen, learn, and collaborate, we can reduce duplication, scale what works, and open up clearer routes into skills, employment, and progression.”
The King’s Seeing is Believing programme was established by the then Prince of Wales in 1990 and is supported by Salesforce and Linklaters LLP.
More than 25,000 business leaders have participated in the programme to date, with initiatives including Career Ready, Ban the Box and mentoring circles developed in collaboration with the Department for Work and Pensions.