Andrew Ramroop OBE - National Training Award Winner, 2007

Andrew Ramroop began his working life at ten years old, helping on a food stall in Trinidad. To pass the time, he would sketch clothes and cut them from newspapers. It was the beginning of something.

He served apprenticeships in Trinidad, earning three pence for every pair of trousers he made, before deciding to sail to Britain at just 17 years old with one ambition: to work on Savile Row. He arrived wearing a suit he had made himself. He was engaged immediately.

Knowing that formal qualifications would shape his career, Andrew worked 100-hour weeks doing alterations to fund his own training. He attended business workshops alongside his work. In 1988, he purchased Maurice Sedwell Limited, becoming the first person of colour to own a tailoring house on Savile Row. He has since grown the business by 300 per cent, crafting garments for clients in 52 countries.

In 2007, the National Training Awards, celebrating its 21st year, named Andrew Ramroop a UK winner at the gala ceremony in London. The judges called him an inspiration. They described his determination and commitment to learn as truly motivational.

The same year, Andrew founded the Savile Row Bespoke Academy, a formal training establishment designed to address the shortage of high-calibre tailoring skills in Britain, and to produce, in his words, the elite tailors of the future.

https://www.ukskills.org.uk/CaseStudies/02a_csnta_aramroop.html