A free barista course, 1,200 lives changed in a decade

Well Grounded, a London social enterprise, has trained 1,200 people for coffee industry jobs since launching a decade ago from an east London cafe, with 77 percent of graduates moving into sustained work or further study. The courses are free, funded by corporate and government support. One graduate is Sana Pishgoo, 45, who fled Iran as a refugee in 2015 after a custody battle and rebuilt her life in north London. She had been the first woman to apply for a cafe license in her home city of Shiraz. Laid off from a bakery during the pandemic, she took the barista course and reopened as a cafe owner. Her shop, Shiraz Patisserie, now serves the city's Iranian community alongside nokodchi chickpea cookies and a constant best seller, pistachio and chocolate ganache cake. Her daughter is studying at Oxford and has requested a mango cake for her birthday. "I know my cakes, and my coffee, are good," Pishgoo says.