Heriot-watt project aims to equip prisoners with skills

A project designed to help prisoners set up a microbusiness on release from custody is looking to roll out across Scotland.

The pilot initiative, delivered by Jahangir Wasim from Edinburgh’s Heriot-watt University, and overseen by independent research and former professor of entrepreneurship Rob Smith, took place at HMP Grampian in Aberdeenshire.

It provided those in custody with a series of tailored sessions designed to equip them with a range of new skills that can help them take steps towards establishing their own business upon release. The threeday course covered essential business skills, such as marketing, taxation and how to sell services and products.

Wasim, head of business and management at Heriot-watt, said: “People face numerous barriers to employment when they finish their sentence. The stigma of a criminal conviction means many opportunities, regardless of their ability, experience and even qualifications, are closed.”