When Khatuna Tsintsadze, Co-Director of the Zahid Mubarek Trust (ZMT), took to the stage at this year's Spring Connector at Janus Henderson Investors, she brought with her not just an impact report — but the living proof of how transformational their work is.

ZMT works in prisons to create lasting positive change for people as they rebuild their lives after custody. Its Equality Advocate Project has a track record of working with over 650 adults, but at last year's Spring Connector Khatuna pitched with a different ambition: to expand that work to children and young people in custody. At the TFN event they raised over £12,000, and as a result they worked directly with 47 young people and supported 103 family members over the course of the year.

Standing alongside Khatuna at the event was Kenneth — one of those young people. He arrived in the UK at 13, having escaped violence in the Philippines, diagnosed with severe PTSD, with no support network and no English. After a prison sentence for gang violence, he encountered ZMT's programme while in custody.

"This project triggered my hunger and passion for knowledge," he told the room, "and the hope that one day I could stand on the right platform to spread awareness with fellows who have been through what I've been through."

That hope has since become reality. Kenneth has started writing a book, enrolled at university, become a trustee, trained as a mentor, and is now working as a project manager — facilitating the very same course he once took as a participant in prison. He described his aim as planting seeds of knowledge in people's minds, building what he called "a sanctuary for the lost, the broken, and the imprisoned — whether physically, mentally, or spiritually."

Addressing the audience in the room directly, he closed: "I will be your legacy for change."

To find out more about the work of the Zahid Mubarek Trust visit their website.

Photo by Alick Cotterill. L to R: Kenneth and Khatuna at the Spring Connector 2026