Launching and growing a business is hard work. Founders from underrepresented backgrounds, such as people with a disability, women entrepreneurs, or people who are Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic group, can face a range of barriers that range from getting start-up finance, being able to access networks or getting the right legal advice.
Hatch Enterprise is a national charity that’s aiming to change that. We’re committed to building a fairer society by helping develop entrepreneurs’ skills, knowledge and confidence through our support programmes designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.
As an enterprise support organisation, we’ve been working with underrepresented founders since 2014 from right across the UK to launch and grow businesses that are both sustainable and have a positive, lasting impact on their communities. To date, we’ve supported more than 6,700 UK founders of small businesses to flourish, from sustainable zero-emission parcel delivery to Community Interest Companies that are aiming to reduce single plastic use, but we’d like to do more. Working alongside a vibrant network of partners like the Federation of Small Businesses - people who share our vision - is key to doing that.
Currently, only 1% of UK venture capital goes to businesses with all-female teams, and we know that almost half of aspiring entrepreneurs either paused all development of their idea or permanently stopped as a result of the pandemic, which increases to 61% if you’re Asian or from another ethnic minority.
Joanna Hamer, Head of Cohort Programmes at Hatch Enterprise, says: ‘Like FSB, we’ve been working hard to make sure we’re doing all we can to support broader sections of society who typically face a greater or steeper degree of challenges when it comes to starting and growing a business. It makes sense to join forces to be able to do even more, both in terms of reach but crucially be able to support more people. We know there will be countless numbers of founders out there who simply don’t know about Hatch and how we can help support them as leaders and their businesses.’
As an FSB member, Hatch is offering you the amazing opportunity to join their longer-term support programmes for free.
Whether you’re just starting out (Launchpad programme), growing your businesses (Incubators) or looking to scale your business (Accelerator programmes), simply mention you’re an FSB member at interview stage and your fee, currently between £50-£300, depending on which support programme you take part in, will be waived.