Ken Okona-Mensah has won a bursary from the Journalism Diversity Fund, which will enable him to pay for a part-time print journalism course at the No Sweat Journalism Training Centre in London.

He is a member of Aspire, a support network for black media professionals, which aims to connect black professionals and potential entrants with mainstream and independent media organisations.

The bursary is designed to boost his chances of pursuing a journalism career.

It was one of six awarded to potential journalists from diverse backgrounds this summer.

The Journalism Diversity Fund, launched last year, is an innovative scheme led by the National Council for the Training of Journalists that aims to provide financial assistance and mentoring to people hoping to train on any of the NCTJ’s accredited courses in the country.

Ken, who has a toxicology background, said: “I’m extremely excited by the prospect of being thrown into the hard newspaper environment and having a mentor as a sort of guiding angel.

“I’m particularly keen to develop as an investigative freelance journalist [retaining links with the toxicological regulatory industry] and providing comment via print, online and broadcasting.”

During the course Ken will be trained in all the core skills needed to start work as a print reporter, such as shorthand, law, government, writing skills, interviewing and news gathering.

Exams in shorthand, law and government are taken at the end of the training and Ken is also expected to complete a portfolio of work.