EM3RGE holds male youth empowerment conference in Leeds, UK
The initiative is a long-term endeavour to cultivate mentorship and promote cultural understanding to strengthens community resilience
History was made on 1 March 2025, when the UK’s first male youth empowerment conference was held in the City of Leeds under the theme: “Identifying the Challenges Faced by Boys and Young Men and Providing Opportunities to Address Those Challenges ”
The event was organised by EM3RGE, a community initiative aimed at enhancing boy empowerment in local communities and nationwide. EM3RGE is a subsidiary of The PLATFORM CIC, spearheaded by Nana Abena Owusuwah Hagan, who strongly believes that for societies to improve, a focus on both boy empowerment and female empowerment is needed.
EM3RGE believes that the high statistics of knife crimes, gang affiliations, drug abuse, school dropouts, and many more points to the need to have the conversation on boy empowerment to re-shape the mindsets of the modern young man to navigate today’s societal values and thrive under modern societal pressures.
In parenting, extra monitoring is often implemented when training a girl, as it is believed that they may easily stray from the right path. Unknown to us, it’s a considerable disservice to their male counterparts. Most societal vices today are a result of the lack of proper parenting of the boy child compared to the girl child.
EM3RGE is purposefully crafted to uplift young men from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. EM3RGE fosters meaningful inter-generational dialogue connecting young boys with older mentors from a variety of professions, generations, and socio-economic backgrounds and attainments.
This initiative is a long-term endeavour to cultivate mentorship and promote cultural understanding that strengthens long-term community resilience. EM3RGE had its maiden event that discussed the importance of mentorship, mental health, and recognising natural talents.
The belief of EM3RGE is that every young boy possesses boundless potential waiting to be unlocked. The panel emphasized the importance of education, mentorship, and peer support groups as the foundation of this journey to unlocking potential.
As part of its mission, EM3RGE seeks to redefine masculinity to stop Gender Based Violence (GBV) and challenge societal norms and cultures while promoting emotional intelligence and aligned interests.
The event featured guest speakers, including The Lord Mayor of Leeds, Cllr Abigail Marshall Katung, who delivered an encouraging speech to the young male attendees, as well as male role models who emphasized the importance of hard work and making a positive impact in communities.
The EM3RGE convener, Nana Hagan, is the first African female to speak at the UK House of Commons and Bradford City Hall, and her speech was centered around empowering, transforming, and reshaping the mindsets of boys and young men. Although not a “boy mum”, Nana pursues EM3RGE from a burden to change the current societal narrative and save lives.
Seasoned guest speakers featured on EM3RGE were; Mr Samuel Eyram Atta Nugba (Aircraft Technical Services Engineer and CEO at Aero Cipher Solutions (Start-up Company)) UK, and Mr Jonah Ulebor (CEO LEXTRA, PhD. in Education, Early Years and Childhood Studies, Advocate for Equity in Education) UK.
The rest were John Williams (Snr. Cloud & DevOps Engineer, Detectronic Ltd UK), Samuel Kwabena Ninson (Assistant Leader of Maths at Bingley Grammar School UK), Kofi Amoateng Owusu (Life Coach, Entrepreneur, Author, and Pastor, UK), Nicholas Asiedu Munack (Health and Social Care Professional, MA in Mental Health for Children and Young People, UK) and Pastor Nestfield Lopez (Chief Servant of Livingwaters Ministries, UK).
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