Investec Beyond Business

What you’ll be doing

Image courtesy of alumni, Well Grounded.

Investec Beyond Business is an award-winning support programme for emerging social enterprises in east London. Successful applicants receive up to £20,000 in funding as well as training and support to help get great business ideas off the ground.

Since Investec became the sole funder of the programme in 2011, we’ve helped set up 50 new social enterprises in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham, 80% of which are still in business. 300 jobs have been created in east London and a combined turnover of £5m has been generated.

If you have a great business idea that will deliver positive impact in east London, contact us to find out more.

This programme is generously supported by Investec.

What we do

We seek out budding entrepreneurs who are committed to creating successful businesses that are both profit making and deliver serious social and/or environmental outcomes. We invite them to pitch their business ideas to the Investec Beyond Business ‘Dragon’s Den’ style panel. Successful applicants are then provided with up to £20k of investment funding as well as membership of the programme.

The combination of investment funding and skills support helps to ensure the entrepreneurs success in creating sustainable businesses.

We provide training and support in:

• Business planning
• Sales and marketing
• Financial control
• Becoming an employer
• IT for start-ups
• Pro bono legal help

Our achievements

We have a very successful track record with a realistic proven business model that creates lasting benefits. Since the programme was launched eight years ago, we have:

• Set up over 50 new social enterprises in Tower Hamlets and beyond
• Helped to generate a combined turnover of £5m
• Created over 300 new jobs in east London
• Fostered a dynamic network of enterprises that support each other
• Given budding local entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to create a social business

See who we’ve supported here.