Exciting opportunity for SW social entrepreneurs
A new finance and support package will be made available to the South West’s social ventures in April 2015.
The Seedbed incubator will offer 50 social entrepreneurs cutting-edge support with the aim to make them stronger and more sustainable and will provide access to social finance.
The Seedbed Accelerator will help social entrepreneurs create sustainable jobs, contribute to the local economy and build resilient communities. Seedbed is one of only ten social incubators/ accelerators in the UK which have received funding from the Cabinet Office to provide growth and investment support through loans and a development programme.
Places on the programme are free due to a joint investment by the Big Lottery’s Social Incubator Fund and the three partner organisations that are involved in Seedbed to help take social ventures in the South West to the next level.
The partner organisations are three of the most pioneering social enterprise leaders in the South West. Seedbed will consist of Dartington Hall Trust, who will provide social venture development experience and effective action learning; Plymouth University who will provide research expertise and learning resources and the South West Investment Group, who will provide financial management and social finance experience.
The programme will take place over 25 days from April to December 2015. During this period, ventures will learn how to successfully compete for tenders and contracts, service growing markets and play a significant role in supply chains and B2B activity through a programme of workshops, master classes, business panels, webinars and more.
Dirk Rohwedder, Seedbed director and director of Dartington Hall Trust’s School for Social Entrepreneurs, spoke about the programme: “We’re thrilled to officially launch Seedbed for the South West. After a lot of planning, we’re created a cutting edge programme and investment funding scheme that will help social entrepreneurs bridge the gap between start up support and investment readiness.
“Seedbed is now open for applications. We’re inviting ambitious social entrepreneurs to join Seedbed to help take their social venture to the next level and grow their impact.”
Adam Chambers and Vaughan Lindsay, Heart of the South West (HotSW) Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) board members, commented: “The Heart of the SW LEP is delighted to see Seedbed set up in the South West Peninsular. It will provide much needed support for the growing number of social enterprises in the South West that combine profit with social purpose. The South West is one of the leading regions for Social Enterprise and this marks another important development for the sector.”
Seedbed will be hosting a series of taster events around the South West throughout February. These events provide the opportunity for social entrepreneurs to hear more about the programme, discover how social finance could help their businesses and to meet the Seedbed team. You can join them on Tuesday 17th in Taunton, Thursday 19th in Dartington; Tuesday 24th in Pool; Wednesday 25th in Plymouth and Thursday 26th in Bristol.
Seedbed will recruit the first 25 social ventures by March 13th 2015. Social ventures are able to join the programme for free. Visit www.seedbedenterprise.co.uk to find out more information and to download the application form.
