Nick’s story – a bright idea to transform young lives
Nick is an entrepreneur who is passionate about helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to build a brighter future. Nick approached SCF in 2021 with a vision to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to start or grow a business.
Together with Nick and his co-founders, we’ve built SWEF, which provides Enterprise Grants of up to £2,000 to help young people turn their business idea into a reality. Since the Fund was set up in 2020 it has supported over 100 young people in Somerset. We also helped Nick to scale the Fund across the South West in partnership with other Community Foundation and charity partners.
“We launched SWEF after realising that although there is a lot of support and advice for young people trying to launch their first venture, there is virtually nowhere to get the cash injection they often need.
The key criteria we look for are initiative and a strong work ethic. We want to help young people change their lives through entrepreneurship. We ask to see a business plan and interview applicants about their plans and ambitions – we want to see them thinking strategically about their business.
Working with SCF has been fantastic. They made everything so easy and turned our idea into a well-run Fund that is already having a big impact on young lives. Their close links with the voluntary sector mean they’ve been able to encourage young people to apply that that we might not otherwise have found.
Seeing the breadth of different business proposals and hearing their plans is a fun part of the process and each applicant is inspiring in their own way. We try and stay in touch through our Business Owner Forums over Zoom, where we connect 5 or 6 grant recipients and give them a place to discuss the highs and lows of their business journey.
We look forward to seeing how each journey progresses and what impact the grant has had on the applicant, and we hope to grow the Fund significantly in the years ahead.”
Impact Story details
Location: | County-wide |
Theme: | Youth |