Sofab Sports – Purple Tuesday and giving opportunities

To mark Purple Tuesday today, the 1st of November, we visit Dale Rawlins, founder of Sofab Sports who discusses employing disadvantaged people, the benefits they bring and why ‘just doing the right thing’ should be top of every recruiters agenda.

Dale is massively impressive and his commitment to helping those less advantaged, makes him one of the most amazing people I’ve ever had the privilege to interview. Watch the full interview in the video above or on YouTube.

Dale founded Sofab Sports while still at school and today the social enterprise gives work experience to the disadvantaged in society, offering a route into full time employment with main stream employers. Dale points out that 80% of disabilities are invisible and often the disadvantaged may lack the CVs others have and yet can be fantastic employees if not overlooked simply because they don’t shine on paper.

Dale is also passionate about offering the dignity of a job and a route into mainstream society – two former employees who have found full time permanent employment came to Dale when homeless, jobless and pretty much neglected by society. That’s what Sofab Sports have to offer and if you want to support their work, simply buy something from their website or eBay store – they rely on retail to support their operations and receive no grant support. The aim isn’t to give people handouts, it’s to give them a helping hand working in a real online retail operation that has to be profitable in order to pay their wages.

Celebrating Purple Tuesday today, Dale appreciates how it turns the spotlight on to disabled and disadvantage, but say businesses need to do more all year round. In the video (above or on YouTube) he discusses:

00:00 Those furthest from the employment line

02:10 Success in main stream employment

03:16 COVID impact on the disadvantaged

05:25 What is Purple Tuesday

07:13 Inclusivity lessons for large retailers

09:50 How can a business demonstrate inclusivity?