Harry Harris talks about Robert Ashton

Hi, I'm Harry, Commercial Director for Swarm Apprenticeships. I met Robert about 5 years ago. Robert was doing a guest lecture at Anglia Ruskin University where I was a student on a master's degree course in entrepreneurship. It's funny because Robert and I kind of clicked straight away, and I don't do that with many people, and we kind of stayed in touch. I left university and went to work as a business advisor. That didn't work out too much, and Robert really came in and rescued me. And I started working with Swarm, and Robert has guided me ever since. It was Robert who made me very aware— I've been running businesses for over 20 years, and there was always a bit that didn't seem quite right. Robert is very good at filling in gaps, and he filled the gap in for me that I'm a social entrepreneur, and my business journey became slightly easier after that. Swarm Apprenticeships is a social enterprise. We're very geared towards showing apprentices and teaching apprentices how to apply the knowledge that they're learning and have an impact in the business that they're in and in their own lives, and it's immensely satisfying. And I know that's something that's very close to Robert's heart, and it's close to our hearts as well, very much with Robert's guidance. And Robert has guided me an awful lot. We chat a lot. I can express myself to Robert. We can bounce ideas and in general have a view on the world that comes from a very social, social area. So I owe Robert a lot. Not only did he kind of point me in the right direction. For me, he's guided me with that, but also he's a, he's a gentleman that's a pleasure not only to speak with but really makes huge impact on people that he comes in— into contact with and has a view of the world that is quite special. So that's a little bit about me, how I met Robert, And I think you should meet Robert too.