Meet Mahad - a man on a mission

Mahad is our Market Stall Manager at Crystal Palace Food Market. He recently chatted to The Jellied Eel - London’s magazine for good food - about his food journey, his life at the market and who’s helped him along the way. Here’s a taster!

What’s the most rewarding part of what you do?

The best thing about working for Breadwinners is that I get to support young refugees like myself. As a Market Stall Manager, I really enjoy encouraging other young people and explaining to them how the stall works. I like helping them to build their careers, like I have done. I also like doing food swaps with the other stall holders at the market! I am interested to see the different foods and sometimes I try different traditional foods, including Italian and German food.

Who has helped you along the way?

My father and my Breadwinners mentor Julia. Since I was born my father has supported me with my education. He came to the UK 20 years before us but he has always supported us. We moved from Somalia to Uganda and then joined him here in the UK in 2019.

Julia has also helped me. My ambition is to be a politician and she works in politics so this has helped me a lot. She has shown me lots of useful resources to support my learning. I recently completed a course in Political Economics. We get on really well. The first time we met we were just laughing, as if we’d know each other from before!

What are your future aims and ambitions?

At the moment I am studying Business at college which I really enjoy. I want to create my own company to help other people. Then I want to be a politician so I can help more people.

Pop by Crystal Palace Market every Sunday to meet to Mahad and pick up some freshly baked bread and pastries.