Q&A with UnLtd [Today from 10am]

Laura_UnLtd

Today from 10am, Laura from UnLtd will be joining us here on the community to answer questions about their Thrive programme.

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 ventures@unltd.org.uk

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!

Chloe_Scope

Great to have you with us @Laura_UnLtd! 

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?

Laura_UnLtd

Hi Chloe, thanks for having me!

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.

Laura_UnLtd

2. What support can be given by Venture Manager?

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. 

Chloe_Scope

Amazing @Laura_UnLtd! I am tagging some of our Support to Work team to see if they have any questions.

@Ren_Scope @pia_scope @mwila_scope @David_Scope

SarahUCE

Could I ask; is this open to charities or only “businesses”?

Laura_UnLtd

@SarahUCE - really great question. We work with a range of organisations from charities to CICs to regular companies and everything in between. We don't mind what your legal structure is, as long as you have some kind of traded income. By this we mean that you aren't fully reliant on grant income. So if you are a charity, you may have some donated income but you also might have delivery contracts with the local aurthority, or you may generate income from workshops, for example. This would mean that you are eligible to apply. If you have further questions in this area then I'm happy to answer.

Garza

this is a brilliant initiative and I hope that you find enough enterprises to fulfill your places, I think another good idea for a project would be to support start up companies that are run by or aimed solely at disabled people, I dont know if this is already done somewhere else or indeed outside of your organisations remit 

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 

Laura_UnLtd

@Garza Great to hear your ideas for your start up. At UnLtd we do support early stage businesses through our awards programme. You may be able to apply for one of our Try It or Do It awards to help you turn your idea into a reality. Have a look at our website here to find out more: https://www.unltd.org.uk/our-support/starting-up/.

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!

Laura_UnLtd

Thanks for all the insightful questions today. If anyone has any additional questions please do get in touch by emailing ventures@unltd.org.uk or calling 020 7566 1100

April2018mom

Will you be doing another Q and A Laura? 

How do you support people at work? 

Chloe_Scope

Thank you for running this Q&A for us @Laura_UnLtd!