We were really pleased to hear that last week Cracked It, funded at Young Funding Network's Crowdbacker and at TFN London in 2016, was named Social Enterprise of the Year by the Centre for Social Justice Awards:

29% of people have a cracked smartphone screen. London-based phone repair service Cracked It fixes them – and it’s just been named Social Enterprise of the Year at the prestigious Centre for Social Justice Awards.

Cracked It trains and employs young offenders and youth on the verge of crime to fix cracked smartphones as a positive route away from crime and towards work.

The technicians at the Social Enterprise of the Year staff pop-up phone repair clinics in large workplaces including Barclays, Lloyds and Universal. After several months with the company, Cracked It supports its youth to transition into permanent work in the wider world.

120 young people have been through Cracked It’s training programme, with two thirds of graduates moving into education, training or employment within 6 months. 8 in 10 do not reoffend within the same period.

Tariq, 18, is one of those technicians. He said: “I started from the life of crime selling drugs. I did some stupid things. I’ve been a technician for 6 months now and not committed any crimes since. Cracked It has changed my life. I even taught Jeremy Corbyn to repair a cracked screen!”

Josh Babarinde, 24, Cracked It’s Founder and CEO said: “Smartphone owners are sick of how inconvenient it can be to get their broken screens repaired. We hit the sweet spot because we go direct to the customer at their workplace, complete the repair there and then, and help change lives all at the same time.”

Babarinde added: “We’re so grateful for all the support we’ve had to get here – especially from social enterprise programme Year Here which launched us in 2016.”