Q&A with UnLtd [Today from 10am]
Laura_UnLtd
Member Posts: 6 Listener
Today from 10am, Laura from UnLtd will be joining us here on the community to answer questions about their Thrive programme.
Are you a social entrepreneur or part of a game-changing business that's helping disabled people into work? Are you looking to grow your impact? Are you curious about the sort of support the Thrive programme could offer? Ask your questions below!Thrive: Access to Employment 2020 applications are now open
UnLtd are looking for 24 game-changing social businesses who want to scale up and grow their social impact and who are improving access to employment for those who face significant barriers to work. Through their partnership with Scope they are particularly looking for organisations who are supporting disabled people into work.
What will you get?
- 6 months of tailored, 1:1 support from a dedicated Venture Manager
- First class social impact measurement support
- Access to pro bono networks and specialist consultants
- Peer support from others on the programme through in person and online meetings and workshops
- The opportunity to apply for the Thrive Fund (up to £50K of investment in loan or equity)
Who can apply?
UnLtd are looking for social entrepreneurs who have been typically operating for 2 – 6 years and have a clear social mission and demonstrable social impact in access to employment.
Applications are now open and will close at the end of January 2020. If you are interested, you can find out more and submit an expression of interest here. If you have further questions, the Venture Managers at UnLtd would be more than happy to arrange a call – just email [email protected]
Replies
Do you have any examples of previous businesses that have benefited from your work, and what growth did they gain?
Also, what support can be given by Venture Manager?
1. Do you have any examples of previous businesses that have benefited from your work, and what growth did they gain?
We've worked with 36 ventures so far on Thrive and you can find out a bit more about two of them and the support they've received in these two case studies:
https://www.unltd.org.uk/blog/stories/spiral-skills-coming-full-circle-on-the-thrive-accelerator
https://www.unltd.org.uk/blog/stories/to-thrive-or-not-to-thrive-how-one-theatre-company-are-training-thousands
Over 90% of the ventures on Thrive grow their revenue and impact 6 months after being on the programme. Some examples are SAMEE (https://samee.co.uk/), who support disabled people into self employment, have now grown outside of Dorset and into 5 boroughs. Furniture Bank (https://www.strouddistrictfurniturebank.org.uk/) have doubled their turnover meaning they can now employ 6 more people with barriers to work.
One of the great benefits of Thrive is that the Venture Managers can tailor the 6-month support to what you need the most. We begin the programme by talking through different parts of your business and work out which areas need to be developed in order for you to grow. This could be in a number of areas such as finance, strategy, HR, operations, legal, sales etc.
The Venture Manager will visit you at least once a month to offer practical support in these areas as well as offering an external perspective for current challenges. We also run workshops and events that all members of the cohort can attend and we connect you to other ventures, consultants and pro bono support.
@Ren_Scope @pia_scope @mwila_scope @David_Scope
On a personal level i would like to start up something in the fitness/wellbeing sector aimed at being totally inclusive the need for which is solely based on my own frustrations with this sector and the thought that I cant be the only person in this situation
We have supported many organisations that are run by disabled people, and/or support disabled people. Check out Evenbreak (https://www.evenbreak.co.uk/) who we've supported with a Grow It award and on Thrive 2019.
There are also loads of resources on our website, which may help you take the next steps in your journey: https://www.unltd.org.uk/our-support/learning-area/
Best of luck!
How do you support people at work?