How To Break the Link Between Background and Opportunity
Regional inequality is holding people back so Joe Seddon has built of tech platform to do something about it.
Joe Seddon, founder of Zero Gravity, thinks “geography is destiny in the UK” which is why he has built a tech platform to do something about it.
In this week’s episode, Amol and Joe dig into the barriers facing young people across the country, from stalled social mobility to uneven access to opportunity.
Growing up in a single‑parent household in Morley, West Yorkshire, he went on to study at the University of Oxford, but he thinks those opportunities are still too rare for people from a similar background. That’s why his platform connects people from low-opportunity areas with top universities and employers.
But Joe argues that there needs to be “radical transparency” in how university degrees are advertised so people know the value of the course they’re applying to.
And in a blunt message to ambitious people from disadvantaged backgrounds, he admits that the economic reality means that “you should think seriously about leaving your hometown.”
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today podcast for BBC Radio 4. Episode are released every Thursday and you can also listen to them on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r
