Westminster Business School students team up with local charity to help homeless women develop accounting skills

As part of a pilot project which the University hopes to grow and expand to other activities, a team of 20 second year students from the Accounting BSc Honours and Business Management (Accounting) BA Honours courses have volunteered to provide training in accounting and bookkeeping to a group of ten residents at the the Marylebone Project.

The Charity, which is situated near the Westminster Business School’s Marylebone campus, provides long and short-term accommodation to homeless women, as well as support, including education, employment and training opportunities, to women who visit their drop-in centre. Its residents are often affected by unemployment, domestic violence, substance misuse and mental health issues, and are from diverse minority backgrounds which represent some of the most vulnerable citizens in society.

The project was set up by Sobia Razzaq, Senior Lecturer in Law, Dr Kumari Juddoo, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, Dr Sudha Mathew, Assistant Head of the School of Finance and Accounting, and Dr Sheeja Sivaprasad, Principal Lecturer in Finance. The team designed the training in response to feedback as to what would be most beneficial to the women at the Marylebone Project, who are each preparing to start their own business in an array of areas from catering to music, initially lunching from local market stalls.

The student volunteers have received bespoke training in Excel and QuickBooks to gain professional accreditation and enable them to transfer their knowledge and skills effectively. The one-to-one training is due to take place over a four-week period after the students have finished their exams. 

Talking about the initiative, project lead Sobia Razzaq, said: “Westminster Business School is committed to social enterprise, uplifting our diverse student population and using our skills to give back to our local community. They say charity begins at home, so it made sense to approach our neighbours at the Marylebone Project.”

Student Bonde Ruzyotora added: “The world faces a massive inequality gap and I strongly believe that it is everybody’s duty to help rectify this. The team within the University are humanitarians in the truest sense of the word, for their tireless efforts to support women in need to change the direction of their lives by empowering and equipping them with skills which will support them in starting their own businesses.”

Find out more about Accounting and Finance courses at the University of Westminster.