Through go-karting, founder Callum Thompson is helping countless young people carve out careers in a sector which desperately needs more talent.
Callum Thompson, leader of alternative training provider, Fast Forward Vocational Training Ltd, has much to be proud of. Not only does his business create real social impact by helping young people learn vital STEM skills, it’s on track to become “the farthest-reaching alternative training provider in the UK,” quite the achievement considering it began with six students on an unaccredited course back in 2014.
“We have now grown that number to over 600 learners,” explains Thompson with pride, the next academic year set to take us over 900 learners.”
Every successful business needs a service offering that stands out. For Thompson at Fast Forward Vocational Training, it’s “the blend of theoretical and practical learning we offer from the most exciting and well-equipped facilities possible.”
One of those first-rate facilities is TeamSport, which Fast Forward first partnered with in 2017. It is the UK’s largest indoor karting company with thirty-seven tracks nationwide. “We now offer our training provision in all of these tracks,” he beams.
Thompson’s entrepreneurial story is one many wish they had. It contains all the inspiring themes; youthful motivation and an unrelenting desire to enact change. The story started in 2013 when the twenty-two year old Thompson opened an indoor karting track in Hull.
“I was approached by the neighbourhood policing team who asked if they could bring in youths from the estates who were committing low level anti-social behaviour crimes in the hopes they could build relationships between the local officers and young people through racing,” he says.
“The young people attended each week and we showed them how the karts worked and they were keen to learn about the engines. One of the young people attending told his school and they approached us to see if we would offer the same service to a small group of their most troubled students and offered to pay.” This paved the way for a vital shift in the business: “That was where the training provision began.”
Fast Forward’s educational offerings are comprehensive and span Motor Vehicle Studies, Introduction to Motor Sport Engineering, Progression into a STEM Career, SEMH Support and Functional Skills. As a result, it “positively affects the lives of young people each year by giving them an avenue to achieve success and helping to create a better skilled and well-equipped next generation for this country.” Considering there is an ongoing STEM skills shortage in the UK, organisations such as this one are working to bridge the gap by empowering young peopleinto these vital roles and driving the economy forward.“We measure success by the number of students who leave our programme in a better position than when they joined us,” he confirms.
Fast Forward has expanded its Hull-based services to ensure more young people gain the employable skills they need.“Along with our mechanics centre we now have a construction training centre, and hair and beauty training centre for our vocational training.” Thompson and his team are also offering more holistic support to learners needing a more “therapeutic, trauma informed approach to learning” via “exclusive use of a fishing lake and a kayaking and paddleboarding lake where learners can heal and re-engage in a tranquil, calm environment.”
The most exciting development to date has to be the brand’s decision to become an independent school by registering with Ofsted. “The school will cater for a variety of SEND learners including those with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Speech Language and Communication issues, and much more,” Thompson explains. “We are hopeful we will intake our first learners later in the year or in January 2026 pending inspection.”
“The long term plan will be to use Hull as our blueprint across the UK,” he adds.
While the firm’s story began in Hull, for Thompson the aim was, and continues to be, having a. national reach to positively impact as many young people as possible. “Scaling the business was always going to be challenging for us but was necessary,” he states. “The market for this training in Hull was good but not good enough to have a sustainable business that could trulymake a lifelong difference to the number of students we wanted to.”
Business challenges are inevitable. For Thompson and his team, school funding is their own specific hurdle to overcome. “Schools and academies that desperately need our support have had budgets cut and funding placements on our programmes is more difficult. The Department For Education recently published figures showing 51,000 students at secondary school age were accessing the majority of their education in alternative provision with this number showing signs of further growth. However, schools are receiving no extra funding to manage this.”
Having started a national business in his twenties, you bet Thompson has some entrepreneurial advice to offer his counterparts including how to build the best team possible: “A nice CV is great, but businesses need people who get things done, especially through periods of growth. So my advice is to focus on putting together a team with agency over academic achievements.”
So that’s Fast Forward Vocation Training, a business harnessing the power of education to create real social impact, all while growing impressively.
