Not-for-profit incubator Virgin StartUp has opened a new fully-funded accelerator programme for underrepresented business owners based in Greater London.
Thanks to funding from Greater London Authority via the UK’s Shared Prosperity Fund, Empower 100 will support 100 female, ethnic minority and disabled founders from the capital, maximising their chances of scaling and financing their businesses successfully.
The two-month programme will run until the end of 2024. Applications are now open for the first cohort, which will start on Thursday 3rd August 2023. Interested startups can apply here.
To be eligible to apply, founders must be turning over at least £50,000 per year, have two employees or more and have been operating for more than 18 months.
“Systemic inequalities and biases continue to be a barrier for under-represented founders of early-stage businesses. Empower 100 is about taking a step towards addressing some of these issues and encouraging a vibrant and diverse start-up community,” said Linda Grant, chair at Virgin StartUp.
“We want all founders to have the knowledge, connections and confidence to reach their full growth potential.
“We are proud to be running Empower 100 alongside Virgin StartUp’s existing 50/50 pledge to equally fund women and men business founders. Our long-term ambition is to extend Empower 100 to other regions across the UK.”
Virgin Start Up has also recently extended its role as a Business Support Partner for the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loan scheme and will be distributing £36 million in funding to early-stage business founders over the next two years.
All 100 founders on the Empower 100 programme will receive up to 42 hours of expert support delivered across group workshops and one-to-one sessions, equipping founders with the key skills and advice they will need to succeed across three core areas – growth strategy, leadership skills and investment readiness.
Each founder will also have a weekly meeting with a different expert to help them work through specific problem areas in their business, such as sustainability and purpose, brand building, sales and marketing, leadership, finance and investment.
When the programme ends, the participants will continue to be part of a facilitated peer-to-peer support group for six months where they can share learnings on their fundraising and business growth journey.
During this time, all 100 founders will also be given free access to Virgin StartUp’s community support platform so they can access additional support and resources, live webinars and a business advice helpline.
Every six months, Virgin StartUp will also select businesses from Empower 100 to attend a pitch demo day where they will be given the opportunity to practise their pitch in-front of investors and get their feedback, as well as watching other founders do the same – something that very few business founders get the opportunity to do.
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