Creating social value by unlocking the potential of the next generation.
Real life experiences of work for young people, from companies who want to create social value
We equip teenagers with the skills and confidence to thrive in the modern workplace
Find your path: Select your profile type for a personalised Sherpas experience
Businesses
Delivering impact whatever your size
Whether micro-SME or global multi-national. Whether you support one student or one thousand.
Government
Driving change at every level
Whether local council or national department. Whether looking to impact one community or the entire country.
Schools
Shaping futures in every classroom
Whether targeting a single student group or whole-school initiative. Whether supporting a few students or the entire school.
Confident and career-ready
We are on a mission to support one million young people confidently enter the workforce. This means equipping them with essential, practical skills like communication, collaboration, and teamwork to ensure they’re ready for real-world challenges. Through experiences designed to connect with their passions, students can make informed decisions about their career paths and better understand industry progression and entry-level roles.
At the same time, we prepare young people to adapt to a rapidly changing workplace, ensuring they are ready for an AI-first world. With technical confidence and work-readiness, they can thrive in the fast pace of change required in modern careers.
Measurable impact and outcomes
Our programmes provide auditable, detailed data that showcase measurable advancements in essential 21st-century skills such as communication, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration.
We monitor immediate confidence gains in these areas as well as heightened interest in particular career pathways.
What sets us apart is how our paid work experiences contribute to the teen economy, generating a short-term economic ripple effect. In the long term, these initiatives foster social mobility by linking skill development to higher lifetime earnings, therefore offering both a significant social return on investment.
How do we do it?
Showing the Reality of Work (hence the name of our platform!)
RealWork Platform
RealWork is a hands-on platform designed to immerse teens in the authentic experiences of today’s workplace.
Through real-world challenges, teens get a taste of the skills, resilience, and creativity needed to thrive in modern careers.
RealWork isn’t just about training—it’s about empowering young people to contribute to real projects, gain valuable insights into various industries, and make meaningful social impact.
With every challenge, they build a toolkit of skills and perspectives that prepare them for success in both life and work.
RealWork hosts our two programmes: SuperSquads and CareerQuests
SuperSquads
A SuperSquad paid work experience programme for up to one hundred 13 to 19 year olds. Squad members follow a step-by-step innovation process for 24 hrs over 6 weeks answering a real business or societal challenge.
Work is completed outside of school with students being responsible for their own time management and completion of work.
As well as exposure to a new industry, young people develop key 21st century employability skills of communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.
It is important that the SuperSquad focuses on a true business challenge. Squads have previously worked on complex topics such as new risk bearing products for the insurance industry, the design of green jobs for the future economy and how to get more young people using rail travel.
CareerQuests
A CareerQuest is a short, interactive career taster programme, featuring task-based missions that take 2–5 hours to complete.
Students explore both Obvious and Hidden Careers within a given industry or sector, gaining practical insights into the roles. CareerQuests are available for all students within a school, providing a valuable career exploration tool.
Each CareerQuest is available to all students at participating schools, reaching up to 1,000 students per school. Our network of schools is growing every month, expanding access to this valuable resource.
How we can help
Engage at both national and local level with your own bespoke programme
Social mobility partner
Empower young people from all backgrounds by creating impactful programmes that drive social mobility and inspire the next generation
One off or multi-year
Choose the duration that fits your goals—whether a single impactful project or a multi-year strategy to create long-lasting change.
Local or national targeting
Tailor your programme to impact specific local communities or achieve national reach by leveraging our UK-wide school network.
Data and stories
Combine measurable results with real-life stories to showcase the true impact of your social value projects and inspire change
Business engagement
Get actionable insights and data to measure the real-world impact of your social value projects and refine your strategies.
Maps to MACs and TOMs
Align your social value projects seamlessly with metrics, measurements, and TOMS frameworks to deliver measurable results.
Full bid library
Access expertly crafted materials to meet social value requirements for bids and contracts, customised to your industry and needs.
Use your volunteer days
Give your employees a hands-on role. Our in-school programmes provide wrap-around support to reinforce 21st-century skills
SuperSquad is an imaginative and inspiring programme. I was so impressed to hear from our young people how it helped them grow the confidence and skills to be genuinely optimistic about their futures. Well done.
Stephen Cowan
Leader of H&F Council
Hammersmith and Fulham Council
Our Social Value partnership with Sherpas has been invaluable in the last year. Their energy, passion, and drive to do something so important makes collaborating with them a genuine joy. Their programmes have outstanding qualitative and quantitative impact for all stakeholders. They are real changemakers, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Zach Beckett
Social Value Knowledge and Partnerships Lead
Accenture
To collaborate and learn with teenagers; to get their ideas on what is important for them in the future from an insurance product – as well as a working environment – is a fantastic opportunity.
Michele Williams
Global Head of Risk Consulting
Allianz Commercial
I am really proud of LNER’s collaboration with Startup Sherpas. It’s fantastic that we’ve been able to gather insight from young people, representing Generation Z and Generation Alpha, as they will be our future customers and employees.
David Horne
Managing Director
LNER
Startup Sherpas is an exciting social enterprise. I welcome their latest initiative to gain the insights and ideas of young people for the industry and to connect young people to the opportunities offered by leading UK companies.
Nicholas Lyons
The Lord Mayor
City of London
Startup Sherpas are on a really important and valuable mission… I know myself, when I was growing up, it was difficult to understand what work was really like and to get that work experience that inspires you. I’m really proud to be able to support Startup Sherpas.
Paul Welsh
Head of Innovation
Aviva
Safeguarding at our core
At Startup Sherpas, everything we build and deliver has safeguarding built in by design.
We build our own safeguarded digital platforms.
We have seen the positive effect of getting young people working together using digital collaborative tools, but only if safeguarding is in place. We use the analogy of a school
We are transparent about how we work.
We make sure we design our entire business through a safeguarding lens. This includes our wonderful people, and our processes. We
