Based in Liverpool, Loud Speaker offers confidence-boosting workshops and is now starting to work in prisons. Tony McDonough reports

A business that offers confidence-boosting workshops to children, young people and adults is now expanding to work in prisons.

Loud Speaker was founded by Calvin Eden and Oba Akinwale in 2019. The duo had attended university together in Liverpool. It now has four full-time and one part-time staff members as well as a seasonal team of 20.

In December LBN reported how the venture had provided workshops for 100,000 people in Merseyside and further afield. It has contracts with Hugh Baird College, Trafford College Group, Everton in the Community, Blackburn Rovers and other organisations.

It focuses on skills including public speaking, job interviews, being confident to speak on stage, as well as speaking up and speaking their best.

Earlier this year they went into a prison in Wales where they helped prisoners with their confidence building, public speaking and personal storytelling. Now Loud Speaker is to extend that work to prison across the UK in a bid to reduce reoffending rates.

Following the pilot workshop, the prisoners showed a real transformation from the start of the session to the end. Results were described as “incredible”.

Calvin said: “Working with a prison for the first time was an eye opening and insightful experience for myself and the team.

“We were able to see first-hand the key sticking points for prisoners and encourage them to open up, giving them confidence to become storytellers and work on their public speaking skills.”

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Both he and Oba saw the transformation before their eyes. At the start of the session the participants were quiet and nervous. By the end a number were able to speak in a “well-spoken and self-assured manner”.

Oba added: “After the success of this pilot, we have a focus on rolling this out to other prisons including locally in Liverpool, and further afield across the UK. 

“We’d love to help as many people as possible, providing the necessary tools to make an impact on reoffending rates to bring these down across the country.

“Our main goal is to instil a positive mindset and provide them with the tools they need to go on to live meaningful lives outside of prison, rather than heading back there at a later date.”