- Four startup social enterprises each awarded over £20k in funding, ongoing support and mentoring from Investec’s expert volunteers.
- Investec Beyond Business programme has now launched 64 social impact enterprises, creating in excess of 375 jobs.
Investec Bank plc (‘Investec’ or ‘the Bank’), a leading international financial services provider, today announces the winners of its 2024 Investec Beyond Business programme.
Backing some of the most promising social impact entrepreneurs across Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets, Investec Beyond Business is a social enterprise incubation programme executed in partnership with the community charity Bromley by Bow Centre. The programme provides this year’s four winners with seed funding and intensive support, including mentorship and expert advice from volunteers across Investec.
This year’s winners were each awarded over £20k in funding, supporting them to accelerate their business plans and maximise their potential. Investec Beyond Business has strong backing from Investec’s leaders, with CEO Ruth Leas participating in the judging panel alongside Investec colleagues as well as previous winners David Schluter, Founder and Director of Fluid IT and Laura North, Founder and CEO of We Speak.
The entrepreneurs on this year’s shortlist were selected for their promising commercial potential and the opportunity to positively impact their communities in a variety of ways including increasing community cohesion, job creation potential, building confidence and life skills among the younger generation and increasing access for underrepresented talent in creative industries.
This year’s winners are:
- Hackney Wolves Basketball Club (£36,000) – Hackney Wolves Basketball Club fosters a passion for basketball, boosting participation and providing an inclusive environment for all children to excel. It offers a holistic coaching approach to children aged 5 to 18, supporting them to build on-court skills and off-court life skills.
- Good Nugget (£24,000) – Good Nugget is dedicated to bridging the gap between emerging talent and forward-thinking companies in the branding and marketing industries by championing people of colour. The initiative provides mentoring, training and tailored strategies to empower young creatives to thrive and help businesses build inclusive and dynamic teams.
- The Matchbox (£24,000) – Matchbox connects artists with communities through public collaborative art, including the design and painting of murals together. The programme facilitates thought-provoking workshops that engage, involve and guide communities through all stages of the creative process, building community cohesion.
- Empower Box (£24,000) - Empower Box aims to improve outcomes for disadvantaged, hard-to-reach and underrepresented groups – with a particular focus on girls and those with ADHD - by developing the mental resilience, confidence, leadership and life skills of secondary school students in schools through boxing.
Underpinned by Investec’s purpose to creating enduring worth, Investec Beyond Business supports businesses to elevate commercially promising initiatives into profit-making businesses that are locally founded from the ground up. Investec has been the sole funder of the programme since 2011 and to date, the programme has helped launch 64 social impact enterprises1, many of which are female-led, which in turn have created more than 375 jobs.2 Investec also supported four additional successful businesses between 2008 and 2011, in its role as a junior partner in the programme.
Ruth Leas, Chief Executive Officer, Investec Bank plc commented: “The entrepreneurial spirit of those involved in the programme never ceases to amaze me and this year’s cohort proved to be no different. Investec’s partnership with the Bromley by Bow Centre offers us the opportunity to encourage and inspire out of the ordinary talent, supporting social impact businesses from the ground up while enhancing the community around them.
“The Investec Beyond Business programme isn’t solely about supercharging promising and innovative social impact startups; it’s about seeing beyond the business itself, helping these firms maximize the positive social value they create within their local community. A perfect example of showing that the more you give, the more you get back.
“Huge congratulations to this year’s winners who have raised the bar in demonstrating an inspiring level of entrepreneurship and innovation in social impact enterprises with the potential to make a truly lasting and positive impact on the community. We look forward to seeing how these fantastic initiatives grow, evolve and become integral to, and vital for, their communities.”
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