[00:00:00] Hello, and thank you for joining us. My name is Richard Gerver. I've worked in education, human development, and leadership for the last, can't believe I'm going to say this, four decades. In this podcast series, I'm chatting to a diverse range of people from a number of different fields, business, sports, the arts, education, and philanthropy, to explore what our young people And organizations really need in order to thrive, not just survive in times of increasing change and uncertainty.

Richard Gerver: Welcome to The Learning Bridge. Today my guest and those of you who have joined us before will know I kind of leave a bit of a reveal here a little bit of a Taster so i'm not going to get into too much detail today my [00:01:00] guest when I went through just now the different fields Of people we've been talking to i'm thinking that my guest today frederick of freefa has basically tipped all of those boxes.

I'm just Now going this is a man of many talents and multiple interests I'm gonna let him tell you about himself in just a minute, but to suffice to say he's had a remarkable journey Doing so many things learning so many things along the way And he has ended up as we're speaking now as we're recording now.

We have to be very careful what we say He is currently one of the stars one of the candidates on the 2025 season of the UK's version Of the apprentice and of course, I don't need to tell those of you in the u. s To know that it made donald trump a star so watch out for frederick and what he's gonna say because If the same pattern follows suit if nothing else he'll end up as our prime minister in a [00:02:00] few years time So big build up frederick.

Hello, and thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to join us today

Frederick Afrifa: Thank you, Richard. I think that's one of the best intros I've ever heard of myself, so thank you.

Richard Gerver: That's an absolute pleasure. So listen, there is so much to your life, as I've hinted at already. What would be great is if you just tell people a little bit about your origin story where you came from and how you got to doing what you're doing today.

Frederick Afrifa: Absolutely. I know we haven't got a whole day, so I'll summarize it. So my name is Frederick. I'm of Ghanaian heritage. So my, both my parents are from Ghana and I grew up in Milan in Italy. And it was an interesting childhood because I was the only African kid in my whole school and in my whole area. And at the time it felt like when you're seven years old and you don't see anyone that looks like you.

And that shaped me because I'd really had a big impact on my confidence. You know, not having any kid that looked like you. And especially on the [00:03:00] 14th of Feb, Richard, it was a tough day for me because zero Valentine's Day cards every single year. Every single year and I thought maybe next year someone will fancy me.

Nope. So laugh about it now.

Richard Gerver: Let me just say, I'm 56. I'm still waiting for one. So if you get one from somebody and it's a question mark, just reciprocate. I

Frederick Afrifa: love

Richard Gerver: that.

Frederick Afrifa: So, yeah, it I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was really tough. And then I moved to London 12 years old.

not speaking any English and we were a family of four, me, my little sister, mum and dad. And we moved to a small three bedroom flats in Brixton, and we were in one of the three bedrooms. So, different families in different bedrooms, all of a sudden, I'm 12 years old, my little sister's 6 years old, we're sharing bathrooms, kitchen, and this is all we know at this point.

Let alone being in South London and adapting to the being savvy, street savvy, let's say. Within the first two weeks, I actually got robbed. And these are all things that [00:04:00] heavily affected my ability to communicate and my confidence in general. I found athletics through my PE teacher, Mr. Silly.

I will never forget him. And he said, look, I think you should give it a go. And. Eventually I signed a professional contract in athletics and I was a sprinter, so track and field for the American audience. As a sprinter, I got to represent Italy and I went to the European Championships. That was all going really well.

And as I was training for the Tokyo Olympics, the pandemic hit the world. The Olympics got postponed to 2021. I got COVID. And I just really never recovered my performances. Whenever it's good, my sponsor dropped me, my team in Italy stopped paying me. And then I got a job as a delivery driver at a supermarket just to support my family.

And that was my rock bottom moment. There's this infamous shift where it was snowing. It was icy. It's hard enough to walk when it's icy, let alone drive a van. And I was skidding all the, like everywhere. And I thought this isn't very good. I need to get out of this at [00:05:00] the time. The thing that held me back the most was my ability to speak and communicate.

Something that I know we're going to get onto, but it's not taught in schools. And I thought, let me just try and get better at speaking. In doing that, I've accidentally become a global speaker and a communication skills coach. And and that's also got me onto this year's. Season of the Apprentice.

Richard Gerver: There's nothing accidental about that, Fredrick. It's hard work and hard graft. And we'll come on to that as we go through. I'd like to go back, though. Because one of the things that really interests me, and I think is something that young people often suffer without ever Articulating. And that is this feeling of being an outsider, right?

Whether it's nationality, race, sexuality you know, whatever it is. I always felt like an outsider as a child because when I was a kid, my parents got divorced, which today is not an uncommon thing. But when I got divorced in the community I lived [00:06:00] in, that made me, and people would look at me different.

So it's not quite the same but I kind of see it and I'd like to know a little bit more about where did the strength come from for you? Because so many kids drown, right? So many kids drown. Where did the strength come from, do you think, when you look back on how you overcame that feeling of being an outsider?

What were the strategies? What did you do when you look back on good, bad and indifferent?

Frederick Afrifa: That's a great question. It's something, it's a realisation I've only come to recently. What we used to do in Italy on a regular basis is every two years, we would go to Ghana to visit my cousins and I saw how my mom's sister's children, so my direct cousins, were living in what I would have considered extreme poverty.

But they were happy. They were okay. They were dancing. And I remember thinking, if only I could do something to inspire them and to show them that, you know what? There is more to [00:07:00] life than this. And I remember in the moments that I found it difficult, I would have my cousins in mind. And at the time, I guess I didn't know that became my why.

But what I had was them in mind and a reminder that, number one, as, as much as I feel like life isn't fair, I am privileged. And number two, I owe it to them to do my best to try and inspire them to also one day, not necessarily come to Europe, but get out of their village and make a something of themselves.

Richard Gerver: Wow. That's the, it's funny. There's been a theme that's run through a couple of the people I've spoken to in this new series. And part of it is this thing around mental health, which is the ability to contextualize the problems and challenges you're dealing with. And so what you've just articulated beautifully to me there is that point about using, if you like, a frame of other people's existences, in this case your cousins in Ghana, to say, yeah, my life may be going through really [00:08:00] challenging times, but actually there's always somebody out there that I can reframe that.

Absolutely. And I think that's a really fascinating thing. So then we move forward, right? So there you are at school. You're a young Italian boy living in a tough part of London. Let's, for people that don't know, Brixton at that time was a tough place, right? And you're at school in what will have been a tough school, my guess is, right?

In a society, in a community where just your, the way you spoke or attempted to speak will have been laughed at, I guess. People would have been going, oh yeah, right, yeah, you don't know how to say this and that sounds funny. Yeah, do you eat pasta and all the kind of usual nonsense that people come up with.

Did you have anyone at that time? It that you found that became a support for you, that you, that helped you, that did you find somebody or a group of people who you felt, yeah [00:09:00] they were there to lean on?

Frederick Afrifa: It's a good question. And at the time, I don't think so because I think about my parents and they were just figuring it out.

They had moved from Ghana to Italy and up from Italy to the UK and my father was trying to get a better job so he could get out of this living in a one room as a family of four. You know, my mum is also now figuring out how, as a woman, she's now sharing a kitchen with two other random women. So I feel like my parents they were trying to figure it out now as an adult, I understand.

Within a school context, it was exactly that. It was trying to learn the language, but then getting laughed at for pronouncing words incorrectly. Or I remember there was a student who called me a neek, which now me, I know it means like a nerd, but it's like a slang term. So, but I didn't know it was a slang term.

So I went to the dictionary and I was like, what is a neek? And I couldn't find it. I found NEC. I was a NEC? And then she was laughing at the fact that I was using a dictionary. And that made it so difficult for me to actually learn. [00:10:00] But I spoke to my mum about this a couple weeks ago. I said, Mum, how long did it take me for me to understand English and really interact with people?

She said, I was really surprised that it only took you three months. And I think because it was so challenging, I was forced to adapt. And that's why now I sound like I'm from London because I would pronounce words incorrect, people would laugh, and I'd say, okay, I need to really observe how people are pronouncing these words.

And do the same myself. So, to answer your question, I don't think there was a support network. And it did, it was quite a lonely experience to start off with.

Richard Gerver: I'm, there's so much in your life that you've already talked about. Which is about challenge and overcoming challenge. And so the next step, so there you are.

You've got this incredible PE teacher. And again, it blows my mind, the number of elite athletes I talk to. Who say, I had a PE teacher. It's just it shows doesn't it how vital and Those teachers can be any teacher. You never know as an educator When you are going to have a profound impact [00:11:00] good or bad young person's life And suddenly you've got this PE teacher who says, I think you should try athletics.

I think this could be your thing, right? But there is a big difference between a PE teacher in a school saying to a kid, you should try athletics. and becoming an elite international athlete, right? For me, I was told at school I was really good at acting, okay? So I made the mistake of thinking I was going to be the next superstar movie star, right?

And the essential truth was I was really good as a school actor. I was absolutely useless at an increasingly elite level. How on earth did you go from a 12 year old kid who'd got a P. E. teacher who said, I think you can run a bit, right? What was that like? How did that happen? And how much of that was mental?

And how much of that was discipline?

Frederick Afrifa: It's a great question. And I often say, now that I go into schools often, I say, teachers are superheroes. And like you said, they don't [00:12:00] understand often the profound impact that they have on these young people. So Mr. Sealy says to me, you should try athletics. And as a normal teenager, I want to play football.

So I say to him, look, I'm going to do one year of football and see how it goes. And then one year of athletics and see how it goes. And in my first year of football, nothing major happens, or soccer for the American audience. And in my first year of running, I go to this competition called the English Schools Championship, which is on Sky Sports.

And I'm representing London and it's blown my mind. It's my first time ever being on television. I'm like, okay, the evidence is clear here. I think I need to go down this route. Because I had such a great start. I had the illusion of thinking, well, I'm going to sign pro as soon as I turn 16. And some of my friends started doing so, and I thought, okay, this is going to happen.

But actually, my journey there, just like my whole life, was very unconventional. And it took me seven years to sign my first pro contract. So that meant that during college, sixth form, I was training and studying at the same time. I took two gap years from education, from employment, to focus on [00:13:00] athletics, still didn't sign.

And on my final year of university, in 2018, That's when I signed a deal with my previous sponsor. So it was absolutely about resilience. And I haven't gone in father who at some point said, you know what, Frederick, just forget about it. You know, just do accounting, get a job. And it was all about that innate belief that I think I can do it.

And I'm not going to give up on myself until I've done everything that I can. And eventually I got there.

Richard Gerver: So and you do talk a lot to young people. You make a huge difference to the lives of young people around the world. You know, applying those skills generically to young people, so it might not be athletics.

It could be a kid that's struggling with their literacy. It could be a kid that's struggling with their numeracy. You know, they rock up at school every day and feel like I am wading through treacle. Right. What advice do you give those young people and maybe more pertinently for our podcast?

What [00:14:00] advice would you give to their teachers in terms of how to work with those young people? To help them develop that resilience and overcome those challenges.

Frederick Afrifa: Absolutely. I think changing your relationship with failure is what made all the difference for me. And I started seeing failure as an opportunity to learn and improve.

So anytime I would not run a race well, I would say, okay, what mistake did I make? The first 10 meters, I, my stride length was too short. Let me try and lengthen my stride length and then I'll do that in the next race and I'll see improvements. And that's exactly it. So when it comes to students, it's about not seeing failure as a bad thing.

If you put your hand up in class and you make a mistake, now next time, okay, that is the answer. And for the teachers or for the educators is about fostering an environment where failure is. recommended and try, it's better to try and fail than rather than saying failure is not an option.

And I've done quite a bit of research into this now. And it's even within families, those children who are told failure is not an option are more [00:15:00] scared of coming up the comfort zone and trying something. Whereas in other families where parents say, try and fail, just learn those children end up being more successful.

So I think. Changing that relationship with failure is what really created that shift for me.

Richard Gerver: I think that's such a potent and important insight. I mean, I often say to people, remind them, they need to remember, that you learn nothing new by getting something right. You only ever learn something new from the point of a mistake or the realisation you don't know something, you can't do something.

Yet, our society seems to be under the misguided belief that you will only succeed If you get stuff right all the time and it blows my mind the number of people I speak to who are successful Who will always tell me that their success is underpinned by moments of great challenge and failure and mistake making.

So, yeah, I and I think it's so important and particularly I think what you're talking [00:16:00] about with parents is so vital that parents understand because our instinct as a parent, right, is always to protect, protect my child, protect my child. You know, your father, your Ghanaian, Ghanaian father would've been.

Stop. I can hear him now. Stop mucking about with this running thing, right? Go and be an accountant because you will have a career and a profession and an income and a mortgage and all that And of course parents are doing it because it's in here and it's such a hard thing to Have the courage as a parent to say no i'm gonna let you fail And I will be there to help you pick up the pieces

Frederick Afrifa: Absolutely.

Absolutely. And I think in the research that I've done shows that it heavily affects how the children embrace failure, embrace confidence and how successful they are in the long run.

Richard Gerver: So then we're moving to about failure and you know, the next big moment of adversity in your life. Right? So there you are prepping for the Tokyo [00:17:00] Olympics.

I mean, my goodness, me talk about the pinnacle. of a career, right? You and I both know as a professional, as professional speakers for me, the pinnacle was to perform at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, right? Which was not quite the same as the Olympics, but I remembered that feeling as like My goodness me, everyone that supported me in my life this right now is for you right here, right?

And selfishly for me too. There you are prepping for the Tokyo Olympics, right? You're gonna represent Italy at the Olympics in probably the most high profile, not just sporting sporting the Olympics itself, but in probably the most high profile couple of events. in the entire Olympics. I don't know what the viewing figures are, but my guess is for the sprint, the sprints at the Olympics, they've got to be the highest viewed in the world.

And then, COVID hits. And then not just does COVID hit, then [00:18:00] you get COVID and your entire career comes crumbling down. Can you talk me through what went through your mind at that time? But more importantly, how did you build a ladder to climb out of it?

Frederick Afrifa: Richard, that was the hardest moment in my life so far.

And for context, I also had scholarship offers to do a master's and MBA at some American university. So where my life was supposed to look like, or was going to look like was going to the U. S. I got four scholarships. I'm going to compete in the NCAA. I'm going to the Olympics and then perhaps once I finish college, I can stay in the U.

S. and my life looks like that. And I was two weeks from traveling. I had packed my bags. I had sold my car, saying my goodbyes to everyone. And then I get an email from the university saying, well, let's just see how things play out. Yeah, this COVID thing is getting quite serious. Let's see. And it was at the start of 2020, 21.

And then shortly after, that's when my agent says, look. Your [00:19:00] sponsor is out. And that's when I had to get a job as a delivery driver. And I remember, and I often say this now that there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a delivery driver, but the context is that two months before this, I am a superstar and around my area, I'm known as such.

So when I'm turning up to people with their groceries, like good morning, they're looking at me like. Aren't you the dude that was supposed to go to America? What happened to the Olympics? And I have to explain. So I have to relive this moment 10 times a day, five days a week. So for me, it was a real low point.

And I remember thinking to myself, if you're going through hell, Frederick, why stay here? And I thought, this is the lowest I've ever been. And do I want to continue being here? Do I want to try and find a way out? And that's when I really, it took a lot of self awareness. And asking myself the hard question of what are the things that I'm lacking at the moment that I believe will get me to the next stage of my life?

One being your ability to speak and communicate. And what can [00:20:00] I do now, from today, to try and get a little bit better than I was yesterday?

Richard Gerver: So, again there's so much in what you say that fascinates me, because it's mindset stuff, right? And, again, I wonder and worry too often that we assume First of all, we call this stuff soft skills, which to me is a total misnomer.

It's absolute nonsense. Because what you're describing to me are the soft skills are the very things that have helped you constantly reinvent, find new focus, constantly drive forwards. And I think we need to be far more cognizant and explicit about that. So then there you are, right? And by the way, I can, it's Honestly, we could be like parallel lives when I was failing to be an actor I ended up driving a delivery rat van, by the way around an area, you know too Well, I was delight driving a delivery van on regular trips up to [00:21:00] milton keynes.

Frederick Afrifa: No way

Richard Gerver: Oh, yeah, and for people who don't know milton keynes, particularly those people in america Think about your worst kind of road. Hell Right, which is basically defined every hundred meters by roundabout roundabout And when you're a delivery driver and you're on a ton on the clock, right? It is probably the definition of driving hell so I totally get it right and I was driving my van listening to capital radio my Parents had sacrificed everything to get me an education and all the things I had, right?

And so I had all of that pressure, a bit like you, that screaming of expectation, all my friends going, we thought you were going to go to become an actor, what are you doing, driving, all that stuff. And somehow, right, during, and I presume it was during that period, you're sat [00:22:00] there in your van, right, delivering groceries and you start to self audit.

Right. You start to think, okay, so I need to find momentum. I need to move on. I need to find something. And let's be clear about this. The adrenaline as an elite athlete is a drug, right? That is something, and I think that's really important when we start to shape where you went next. So tell me a little bit about that process.

And how did you get to the point where you thought? I need to start to develop this side of me as a storyteller as a communicator Where did that come from and how did you start to shape that out?

Frederick Afrifa: So the truth was that I tried many things I released a little bit of music during covid to see if that would pop up.

I tried to get into modeling And I was just trying to get out of that, and that's the truth. So one of the things that I thought, I was listening to a personal development video. In fact, I used to listen to Capital as well. And then there was one point where I just thought, you know what, [00:23:00] let me just try and listen to some uplifting things to make myself feel a bit better.

And there was this gentleman called Jim Rohn that I had never heard of. And Jim Rohn is saying, you have an ability, you already have a skill that people would pay for. And I'm like, do I? What am I good at? And I thought, okay, what can I improve? Let me try and improve my ability to speak and communicate.

From my time in Italy, from my time in school, I've always been shy, and I've always pretended to be a confident person, which has then meant that I've been put on stage, but then I've hated it. So is there any way I can just improve at this skill? So my time in athletics taught me that the best way to get better at something is to just do it.

I'm not really good at the drive phase in the sprints. Coach is saying, for two weeks, we're just going to do block starts until you get really good. And then I get really good. So I was saying, surely the same applies for other skills like speaking. So what I did is I reached out to all the primary schools in South London and I had a traffic light system where I would call a school.

If they're [00:24:00] not on it, I'll make sure it's red. If it's, send us an email, it's amber. If they're quite interested, it's green. And I would call honestly 50 schools every single morning before my Sainsbury's shift. And I had this traffic light system. And all of a sudden I started to go into these schools.

For free, just to speak about my journey and I'll say, Hey, I'm an athlete, I can speak to students about resilience. I'll do it for free. All I need in return is a testimony. You saying I was good. Okay. And I did a few of those. And the first one was absolutely shocking. How do all these funny jokes in my head.

And then when I delivered them, no one laughed. So again, I was just iterating, getting better, getting better. And then what happened is I was at training one day and this gentleman called Daniel Lewis. had worked for an agency called Sports for Schools that got sports people within schools. And I said to him, I was expressing my wants to do this.

And he said, look, I could make an introduction. And I thought, really? And because I had done a few schools free and I had some testimonials, Sports for Schools took a punt on me. And then they [00:25:00] ended up working with me to get more and more gigs. And eventually I was able to leave Sainsbury's. And at the time in 2021, I was exclusively speaking to primary schools.

And I found this new lane.

Richard Gerver: Wow. And then, so there you are, you've got this whole new career, which, and it's fascinating, isn't it? When again, when I talk to successful people their careers advisor when they were 16 did not map out where they are now. Right? Right. And that I think, is a lesson in life for young people.

Don't believe you have to get your head down and stick to one lane because it's unlikely that it is. ever going to be simple and smooth and constantly keep your head up looking for opportunity, right? So then you start and you become really good at it, right? And that's interesting because I love that mentality of what you have to do.

First thing is don't procrastinate, right? If it's something you're not looking forward to, then like the that phase in your sprinting, which is the bit I'm not good at and actually I don't like. doing. And there's probably a link there [00:26:00] because it's the bit I do least. Right. Exactly. You have to push through the pain and do the stuff that really, it facet, face your fear and go for it.

Right. Which is what you're talking about. So you start your speaking career, but what really interests me about you, Frederick, is your incredible generosity of spirit, because underneath all of this, I think there's always been a desire in you to make the lives of other people. You know, we'll come on to very briefly touch on the apprentice in a while, but what strikes me because those people that know the apprentice and know the program format, both sides of the Atlantic will know that a lot of the candidates come on and you know, they chat the game, right?

I never sleep. I make more money than God. Alan Sugar will one day be. Tying my laces, you know all this kind of stuff. I'm the greatest I put the e into entrepreneur all this kind of stuff, right? And you and I get that's all part But you said something and have said something all the way [00:27:00] through from the very start of publicity that really interests me Which is really genuine and authentic about you, which is I don't just want to make money I want to change lives and that's something I want to come on to as we move into if you like the final third of our conversation So you're doing the speaking thing, but at some point, what you really, what starts to make your heart beat faster, I guess, is yes, doing the speaking thing, but actually realizing you can have an impact helping other people in communication.

So the first thing is, when did you notice that? And secondly, can you bring people up to date and speed in terms of what that looks like now?

Frederick Afrifa: Absolutely. So it's December 2021. I've done lots of primary schools and I'm thinking I need to network because I want to, I didn't know anyone in this speaking industry.

So I went to different events, I typed in speaking events on Google, different things came up, some were rubbish, some were good. And eventually I went to one event called overcome your fear of public speaking. Interesting. [00:28:00] And I was sat there with 20 people in the audience and those 20 people were petrified about speaking in public, but they needed to for their careers.

There were analysts, there were speakers, there were coaches. And then at the end of the session, I said to the gentleman, I loved that. I didn't know that so many people struggled to speak. And I thought I was the only one. And he said, trust me, this is one of the biggest fears in the world. Wow. I'd love to do what you do, especially because I used to struggle.

And now I'm actually a speaker. How can I do this? And he said, look, let's exchange contacts and we'll see. I followed up with him. No reply. Three weeks later, the gentleman calls me and he says, Are you Frederick from my class? I said, yes. And he says, I've just tested positive for COVID. I have a class in three hours and no one can cover me.

I can't cancel it. I remember you saying you wanted to do something similar. Can you cover me? Totally bemused. I'm like, okay, send me the slides. I kind of remember how it went. And that day, you sent me the slides. I just freestyled the whole thing. But my [00:29:00] mind blew because in an hour and a half, I was able to see someone go from being incredibly anxious to actually starting to believe that they can get better at public speaking.

And it was just a taster class for a bigger program. And I was able to upsell a couple of programs as well. And I thought, wow, when I go into schools and I speak to young people, I don't actually see the impact that I have. I go in, there's fireworks, hey, everyone loves it. And then I leave and I don't know whether the school continues this hard work.

Whereas I could see with my own eyes that I made a difference. Someone came in not making eye contact with anyone and left their chest up. And I thought, I think there's something here. So I started to work with that organization for a while. And eventually I set up my own. And then I realized that this is the thing that really makes my heart beat.

Because I'm seeing, I am making a tangible difference in people's lives. And I'll give you a quick example. There's a gentleman that works for one of the biggest banks in the UK. So NatWest. And he was a manager and he has a team of 20 and he struggled to [00:30:00] speak in front of his team of 20. So he came to me and then two months later, he spoke at the end of year conference in front of 3000.

And now, and his managers are like, what the hell happened to you, Alex? And he's like, we need greatness and leaders to say, now we've got a contract in that West because of that testimonial. But it's, that's the stuff that I just. When I first started doing it, I couldn't sleep when I realized that I could have such an impact on people and that's where we are now started believing greatness, which is an organization that does just that.

What we specialize in is we help professionals and entrepreneurs with the ability to speak well under pressure, especially because we find that when there's no pressure, you speak to family, friends, two glasses of wine, you can speak. But when it's speaking to clients, when you're speaking to senior stakeholders.

You might panic and even forget your name or what you do, and that's when we come in with intervention and this is stuff that is not taught in schools, I wish it was, and we're actually working really hard in the background to try and get some programs with the Department of Education [00:31:00] to try and

Richard Gerver: So, with that in mind and given that some of the people listening here will be from the business sector, will be entrepreneurs, but also a number of parents and educators, of course, right?

In terms of young people, What would be what are your top tips to help young people overcome that fear? What would you say were two or three key takeaways for people to go, right, I've got some really nervous young people in my classroom. There's one or two, I know I've got such talent, so many important things to say.

What would be those top tips to get them started?

Frederick Afrifa: The first one is practice. And just like anything you can't assume that with confidence when it comes to speaking and communicating because some children are naturally more confident. We just assume this is something you have or you don't have, but we don't see this as a skill, which is just like driving or swimming.

Of course, some people are going to be Michael Phelps, Lewis Hamilton, but anyone can get really good at driving or swimming if they put time [00:32:00] and energy into it. So in the classroom, what I do is whenever we do some work with young people. I don't get them to put their hand up and present it from their seats.

I'll say from each table, you have to select one person. They're going to come in front of the class and deliver this presentation, the work that they've just done. And if you do that on a regular enough basis over six weeks, half term, then young people are more used to speaking under pressure. What we, what I remember about my time in school, the only time I had to speak in front of a class was when we had to read out loud.

And for someone who English wasn't my first language, I really struggled to read and speak at the same time. And I found that actually quite challenging. So I would say in a classroom style, understand that different students have different strengths and weaknesses, but encourage them to come up in front of the class and speak without necessarily isolating them.

I would have maybe eight students standing line. They all go after each other, and then they sit down. So that's the first thing that I would say, practice. And the second thing is the awareness that nerves are not something to fight. And this is something, whether you're young or whether you're an adult, [00:33:00] we weaponize things like nerves and we see them as a sign of danger.

Oh, my heart's beating, my hands are sweaty, this is not going to go well. Whereas nerves are just a normal biological experience we all go through. And the first thing I ask my clients is, okay, so what do you want? And often they say, I just don't want to be nervous. And I say not wanting to be nervous, it's like not wanting to be hungry or tired.

We are human beings. And for them, just acknowledging the fact that, oh, it's normal, it makes a huge difference because now when they're nervous, they're not panicking, they just accept that they are human. So I'd say these are two things that we can try and install with young people. Practice and then the awareness that you feeling nervous, anxious is absolutely not.

I

Richard Gerver: love that. And it's funny. I often say to people with nerves that when I get people often than they will to you, when people say to me, Oh, do you get nervous anymore when you get up and speak? And I go, yeah, hell yeah. And actually I've learned to have a really great relationship with it because now I get really worried if I'm not nervous.

Because I know that the [00:34:00] nerves are firing the chemicals and getting things going and I will always be sharper if I'm a bit ner and of course what it also does, and I love framing this for kids, if you're nervous it means you care. That's

Frederick Afrifa: it. It means that you care and even in athletics, there'll be races where my heart wasn't beating.

I wouldn't run as well and I would think, okay, I'm comfortable. It's going to be a good race and I wouldn't run as well. Those are races where I was petrified and my heart would be pounding. So changing your relationship with nerves is so important. And one thing that I tell people is treat nerves as you would treat cold weather.

So it's currently freezing in the UK. Before we leave our house, we're wearing a jacket, a scarf and blouse. We're anticipating that we will be cold. We're preparing for it. When you leave your house, you're still a bit cold because it's freezing. But because you've prepared accordingly, you can handle it.

And it's the same with nerds. When we don't expect them, they hit us with a ton of bricks. But realistically, if you're going on a date, if you have a presentation, you have a job interview. You're going to get nervous. So [00:35:00] anticipate the nerves. No, you'll get nervous. And then when you do feel the nerves, then it's not panic.

And that's something that really works for myself and the people that I help.

Richard Gerver: I love that. That is absolute, that is a gem. Right, two more quick questions for you. Let's do

Frederick Afrifa: it.

Richard Gerver: And we have to be careful about how much you reveal here. The question I'm going to ask you about your experience on The Apprentice is what do you, how do you think you've changed coming out of the process from the man that went in?

Frederick Afrifa: That is an incredible question. I'm going to take a moment to just think about it. Could you ask it again, please?

Richard Gerver: Yeah. How do you think the pro being involved in The Apprentice has changed you basically? What do you think you've come out different from the way you went in?

Frederick Afrifa: I think that The Apprentice for me was a great experience because it gave me further evidence that one, I am who I say I am.

And two, that everything that I, the advice that I give works. Going into the auditions, Richard. Like I told CV is one page, right? [00:36:00] I used to run, I did some deliveries, now I speak. And everyone had a CV that was honestly a short novel. And I thought, as I'm handing it in, what am I doing here? However, without giving too much away, they put us under a lot of pressure from the first interview and they said, express to us why you should be Love Sugar's business partner.

You have X amount of time. And because of my ability to speak and communicate under pressure and everyone actually clapped after my bit and people who had maybe more value, maybe more experience, maybe better businesses within that timeframe, they couldn't articulate their value. And out of the 80, 000 people that applied, I made the 18.

So for me, it's just evidence that look this, like you said, it's not a soft skill. This is the ability that can get you from where you are now. to where you want to be. So I think I was just really proud of myself going through the process. I was authentically myself. Even when the BBC tried to get me to say really crazy things, I was like, this is me, take it or leave it.

And it was just further evidence that [00:37:00] my beliefs are. Correct.

Richard Gerver: Yeah, and listen, I mean, I know you, I've been lucky enough to know you for some while, and I've watched some of the series that have been broadcast, and you are authentic, and that is one of the reasons I love you, and I think people who tune in will love you, and the people you meet, and hopefully hire you, will love you for, because I think that authenticity is a superpower, Frederick.

And so thank you so much. Last question. If people want to connect with you and find out more about you and particularly your work, what's the best way for them to do that?

Frederick Afrifa: I'd say the best way would be through LinkedIn. I upload a lot of my work on LinkedIn and my LinkedIn is just my full name, which is Frederic Afrifa.

My organization is called Believe in Greatness. So if you just Google Believe in Greatness, you'll see the information on there. And I would say, reach out to me if you have any questions at all. I am an open book. Now that [00:38:00] I'm on The Apprentice, I'm finding that maybe I should do it a little bit less because I haven't got that much time.

When I look at my calendar, I'm just seeing lots of little 15 minutes consultations. And I'm just giving advice to people and there's, I guess there's only so much I can do that now that I'm stepping into this new phase of my career, but absolutely I'm all about empowering people, especially when it comes to their communication skills.

And these skills, honestly, I did a, an article with BBC News last week, and they were just fascinated with how did you go from this delivery driver to the apprentice. And I was like, honestly, I just developed this skill and I just thought, let me go as deep as possible. And these are the opportunities that have come to me.

So if I've gone from delivery driver to national television, then goodness knows how far you can go.

Richard Gerver: Oh my goodness me, what a brilliant place to finish. Frederick Afrifa, thank you so very much for taking the time out of your schedule to share what you've shared with us. It's been really uplifting, really powerful [00:39:00] and really potent and I hope people have taken a lot from it.

So thank you so much and thank you for joining us. If you'd like to find out more, Please check out my website richardgerver. com and subscribe to this podcast so that you don't miss any future episodes. But until next time, here's to the future.