Press

ACH, a social enterprise specialising in renovating homes to house refugees as well as providing support and integration services, has urged people with second homes and private landlords to step forward and work with them to bring empty homes back into use.

“It’s a win, win, win,” ACH founder Fuad Mahamed told The Big Issue. “This is the time to appeal to landlords with available properties and to appeal to people with second homes to work with social landlords, local governments, people like us to bring their property back to use.

Read the Business Leader news article on ACH prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise win.

ACH is one of 205 organisations nationally to be presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, considered the most prestigious business accolade in the UK. ACH is one of 18 companies to be awarded in the category of Promoting Opportunity (through social mobility).

Read Smiley News article on how we have partnered up with Crisis to launch the CTI project!

For homeless refugees, gaining shelter is just one step in the process to fully integrating into society. To aid this transition, refugee service provider ACH has teamed with the national homeless charity Crisis. Together the organisations will roll out an innovative programme of Critical Time Intervention (CTI) that will help them to happily integrate into UK life.

Read Bristol 24/7's article on our new Effective Digital Entrepreneurship & Business Support (EDEBS) project! A major new project, led by ACH, that starts this month, to help existing businesses and startups launch and expand, with a focus on economic growth through integration.

The Effective Digital Entrepreneurship & Business Support (EDEBS) project has been awarded £1m – in part from the European Union Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund – with hopes it will enable entrepreneurs from non-EU countries in Bristol to unlock new levels of potential.

Fuad Mahamed, ACH's CEO, writes a guest blog post for Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, about how to restart an inclusive economic recovery in Bristol post-COVID-19:

'This is no longer just about rhetorical inclusivity but about inclusivity which drives growth, creates jobs and integrates our city, communities and society.

So how can immigrant entrepreneurs reignite Bristol’s economy?
Like key workers from a migrant background, immigrant entrepreneurs play a vital role in our economy.'

ACH CEO Fuad Mahamed appears on The Quarantini Podcast, a refreshing cocktail mix of ingenious and creative responses to Coronavirus together with a dash of the unexpected...

'In this episode we hear from Fuad Mahamad, CEO of ACH, an organisation which supports migrants and refugees. He talks passionately about their entrepreneurial spirit and how with targeted investment, they could be the ones to kickstart the economy as we emerge from lockdown.'

Read Bristol 24/7's article explaining ACH CEO Fuad Mahamed's change-making report on Inclusive Economic Recovery Post-Covid-19:

'Bristol’s full economic revival will only be fully realised if it is inclusive for all, says the boss of a leading social enterprise.

CEO of ACH Fuad Mahamed has set out the vital importance of valuing black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities and businesses in the road to recovery in a new document, pointing out the key role they have taken in keeping the country running during the coronavirus outbreak.'

Bristol 24/7 reports on the news of ACH's AI-powered careers advice program, Bob UK:

'A collaboration between a refugee integration services provider and an innovative tech firm is set to be the catalyst for a step change in access to employment.

ACH has been named as one of the 20 finalists in the CareerTech Challenge after submitting the idea of Bob, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven careers advice platform, in the prestigious national contest.'

ACH is proud to be recognised as a Living Wage Employer. Read Bristol Post's coverage of the companies in Bristol working to make the city a living wage city:

'Paying the real living wage helps tackle income inequality which leads to improve social indicators like education and mental wellbeing'