DCG Success Stories

Initial funding from Derby College Group’s adult skills programme has enabled construction worker Jeripi Uazeua to access the training he needed to pursue his career.  

Jeripi, who used to be a carer, had always wanted to go into construction but didn’t have the financial means to retrain.  

But, thanks to funding from DCG and the Department for Education’s Groundworks Skills Boot Camp, together with support from Construction Skills People, he is now working in an industry he loves.  

Jeripi has dyslexia, so his training was tailored to meet his specific learning needs.  

And, after finishing his two-week course, he moved on to the Groundworks Skills Boot camp, receiving qualifications that included his forward tipping dumper licence.  

Since gaining new skills, Jeripi has worked on a range of interesting projects, giving him the wide and varied experience construction employers are looking for.  

His updated resume features a large infrastructure scheme for water company Severn Trent in Mansfield Woodhouse as well as ground preparation and dewatering works for demolition specialist John F Hunt.  

And he is currently being recruited by civil engineering company Ballycommon for Derby flood defence works.  

The holder of an Articulated Dumper (ADT) truck Operator licence, Jeripi gets weekly offers of work on construction sites and now wants to build on his current skills through additional training.  

He said doing the training has given him a sense of purpose as well as qualifications, adding: “Construction brings back pride. It’s made me happier – at work and at home.” 

Married with three children, Jeripi is so pleased with what’s he’s achieved and grateful to DCG, the skills boot camp and his trainers for supporting him in his quest to access the necessary funding and industry training.