The Tribune

UK-BACKED charities and investors have committed $2m to young Bahamians in the wake of King Charles III’s visit, through a new jobs and skills partnership run by one of the King’s charities and a new sports academy offering scholarships to young athletes.

The King’s Trust International, a charity founded by the King that helps disadvantaged young people around the world find work and build skills, announced a $1m commitment to The Bahamas at a British High Commission reception yesterday. At the same event, British-born Bahamian investor and philanthropist Nick Maughan launched the Bahamas-UK Sports Academy with a $1m starting endowment.

The announcements came the day the King left The Bahamas, after a three-day visit in which many Bahamians questioned what tangible benefit his presence would bring the country.

The King’s Trust money comes from John Gore, chairman and chief executive of The John Gore Organisation, a theatre production company. The trust said it will start with a pilot designed with young people before scaling up over three years. It aims to reach young people across the country, including the Family Islands.

The trust said it was exploring where it could add the most value alongside existing government programmes such as the National Youth Guard, the National Upskilling Programme and the National Apprenticeship Scheme. Through an initiative called “Future Ready: Young People Shaping The Bahamas”, young Bahamians are being recruited as researchers to gather the views of their peers and help shape its programmes.

The trust is also looking for businesses that can offer internships, apprenticeships, work experience and jobs.

“The future of every industry depends on the next generation having the chance to discover what they’re capable of,” Mr Gore said.

The Bahamas-UK Sports Academy will be an independent Bahamian charity under the patronage of Governor General Dame Cynthia “Mother” Pratt. It will give scholarships to talented young athletes to train in The Bahamas or the United Kingdom, and help aspiring coaches gain professional qualifications, with seed funding to get them started. It also plans to widen access to sport in the Family Islands, in underserved communities and in disability sport.

Mr Maughan is seeking match funding of $250,000 a year for four years, and is separately paying for the academy’s set-up and running costs. The British High Commission will serve as a founding strategic partner, connecting the academy with sporting bodies and educational institutions in both countries.

“The Bahamas produced world-class athletes from a small population,” Mr Maughan said. “Too many young people with real talent stop competing because the support runs out.”

He said his role was to get the academy started, and that its success would be measured by how many others joined.

Mr Maughan founded the UK youth boxing charity BoxWise, which works with more than 100 gyms across Britain, and brought the model to Nassau last year as founder and chairman of the Bahamas Boxing Academy. The King visited the academy on Wednesday, watching young boxers spar and laughing when he was handed a T-shirt showing him as a boxing champion. The King awarded Mr Maughan a CBE last year for services to philanthropy.

British High Commissioner Smita Rossetti said the academy would draw on the sporting strengths of both countries, “from Bahamian track and field and British boxing to our shared passion for sailing”.

The King’s charities already have a presence in The Bahamas. The King’s Foundation partners with the Lyford Cay Foundation on the Peter George Goulandris Heritage Scholarship, which sends young Bahamian masons, architects and craftspeople to train for four to six months on the King’s estates in Britain. Four Bahamian scholars are now studying in the UK.