Supporting extraordinary entrepreneurs

Our social enterprise incubator

Our roots are based in the spirit of entrepreneurship, and we’re proud to support budding entrepreneurs who want to make a sustainable, positive impact in the local community. We do this through the award-winning Beyond Business programme.

Beyond Business

Beyond Business is a social enterprise incubation programme which we run in partnership with the Bromley by Bow Centre. It aims to help promising entrepreneurs who are committed to creating sustainable, profit-making businesses which also generate social outcomes. The programme operates in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Hackney.
 
Every year, successful candidates receive intensive support in business planning as well as training and expert advice through the Beyond Business College, which is run by volunteers from across Investec. These entrepreneurs also receive funding of up to £17,000 each, to launch their new enterprises.

254

jobs created

£3.3m

collective turnover

60%

female leadership

Since Investec became the sole funder of Beyond Business in 2011, the programme has launched 41 social enterprises, most of them being female-led. These businesses have created 254 jobs so far, as well as 54 work experiences and 76 volunteer placements in the community. They have also generated a total turnover of £3.3m. 
 
The rolling success rate of these social enterprises is 82%, when the national average is 50%.
 
Investec also launched four additional successful businesses since 2008, when we were a junior partner in the programme.
 

Awards

Investec wins Business of the Year - Business Charity Awards

Investec is crowned Business of the Year at the Business Charity Awards, as well as winning the award for Community Impact.

Investec Business in the Community award

Winners of Business in the Community's Experian Building Stronger Communities Award for our Beyond Business programme.

National CSR Awards 2017 winner

Investec won the National CSR Award in 2017 for Beyond Business, in the Best Community (Legacy) Project category.

Beyond Business awarded the Lord Mayor's Dragon Awards

The Bromley by Bow Centre won the Lord Mayor's Dragon Award for its partnership with Investec, announced on City Giving Day in 2017.

In their words


Beyond Business entrepreneurs share their inspiring stories and community impact.
 

Ruth Rogers, founder of The Canvas Cafe

Ruth discusses where her idea for The Canvas Cafe came from and her journey to launching it through the Investec Beyond Business programme.

Ruth Rogers, founder of The Canvas Cafe

Ruth discusses where her idea for The Canvas Cafe came from and her journey to launching it through the Investec Beyond Business programme.

 
 

Elroy Powell, founder of Diverse Music Solutions

Elroy ‘Spoonface’ Powell talks about his social enterprise: “One agency, one project, one song, feed a hundred smiling children. It’s that simple”.

 

You may also be interested in:

Do you have an idea for a new social enterprise?

Contact the Bromley by Bow Centre

Project grants for charities

Apart from our partner organisations, we also support small to medium charities through small project grants.  If you represent a charity that works in our focus areas – education, entrepreneurship and/ or environment – and is local to one of our offices, you can read the full criteria below to find out more, and get in touch.

Get in touch

You may also be interested in:

Education programme at Investec

Our education programme

We aim to help young people in communities local to our offices to achieve their goals in life, beyond academics.
environment initiatives

Environment initiatives

Learn more about Investec's work to reduce our environmental footprint, promote preservation and improve our local communities’ experience of their environment.
Investec's social investment work in South Africa

Our community work in South Africa

We strive to create economically active citizens that contribute to socio-economic growth in South Africa.

Corporate responsibility in action booklet

Corporate responsibility in action

Find out more about our activities

This booklet highlights some of the corporate responsibility projects that we support in the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Switzerland, and the success stories behind them.

Read our Corporate Responsibility reports