A BRADFORD teenager has won a prestigious award at a ceremony in London for his hard work tackling the taboo topic of men’s mental health in Bradford’s South Asian community.

Muhammed Ali Islam, 19, from the Manningham area of Bradford, received the Young Entrepreneur award at the 2023 Young Muslim’s Awards held in London, last weekend for his innovative project ‘Youth Cutz’.

The initiative aims to use the art of barbering to get young males to speak up about their mental health.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Muhammed Ali Islam from Manningham won Young Entrepreneur award at Young Muslim Award. Image: UGC Muhammed Ali Islam from Manningham won Young Entrepreneur award at Young Muslim Award. Image: UGC (Image: UGC)

Youth Cutz offers men the opportunity to speak about their mental health and their struggles whilst getting a haircut.

Ali said: “I’m so humbled to have been nominated by faith inspire, a faith organisation in London.

“I was so excited to hear about the nomination and when I saw it was in London, I was so happy.

“It means our work is getting recognised beyond Bradford and the community we support.”

The initiative was launched in 2022 at Mary Magdalene CiC and has helped young men in the area speak about their mental health and challenges they are facing in a non-clinical environment.

He added: “Youth Cutz isn’t judgemental, it’s accessible and non-clinical, that’s what we wanted.

“We’re so humbled and thankful to have won the award because there was some tough competition.

“I didn’t think we would win.”

Ali was keen to highlight how important this success was for Manningham and Bradford as a city.

He said: “We didn’t grow up with role models, we grew up with people we didn’t want to be like.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Muhammed Ali Islam and Mamun from Faith Inspire Youth Lead. Image: UGCMuhammed Ali Islam and Mamun from Faith Inspire Youth Lead. Image: UGC (Image: UGC)

“I got involved in youth work from an early age and having a positive influence like Sharat at Mary Magdalene CiC, helped me on my road to success.

“Manningham is one of the most deprived areas of Bradford, deprived in opportunities and employment and people have a negative perception of it but I want to make a difference.

“I want young people to know that age isn’t a barrier to success, work can be done no matter how old you are and I want to be an example of that, for them to raise their aspirations.”

Ali attended the awards with his friends and co-founder Hasnain Shafiq last Saturday (March 18).

“I’m the director and Hasnain goes out and does the barbering; it’s a joint achievement for us.”

The initiative started as part of a grassroots film ‘Young in Covid’ which documented the struggled of young people in Bradford during the pandemic.