£2m investment up for grabs for UK energy entrepreneurs
Applications close at the end of February for the Big Energy Idea which has up to £2m to invest in energy-related social enterprises.
Applications close soon for the Big Energy Idea, a new initiative supported by Ignite Social Enterprise and energy giant Centrica to find the UK’s leading energy-related social enterprises and grow their impact with up to £2m investment.
The fund is run by Ignite Social Enterprise, a social investment fund focused on energy-related businesses and enterprises and backed by UK energy giant, Centrica.
The Big Energy Idea is open to all legal structures and forms and aims to support energy entrepreneurs that earn the majority of their income, measure and report their social impact and are seeking investment between £50k and £2m. Applications close at the end of February.
"Energy entrepreneurs with a social purpose lacked investment and support options and this is where we believe we can support the development of those ideas," said Julia Rebholz, head of Ignite.
The Ignite fund's first investment of £500k was in social enterprise, Midlands Together CIC, which creates full-time jobs for ex-offenders and long-term unemployed people.
Talking to Pioneers Post about this funding opportunity, Nick Temple, Social Enterprise UK's director of business and enterprise, said as Midlands Together has shown, "getting a six-figure investment with sector-leading support could potentially be a step-change for the right organisation at the right point in its development".
However, he warned potential applicants not to try to squeeze or reshape themselves to fit an investment opportunity.
It is critical social enterprises seek the right type of finance for their organisation, he said, suggesting that enterprises consider factors, including the stage of their organisation, the purpose of the investment, their size, scale and ability to take on a loan or investment, their skills and their market.
As for Centrica's motives in backing the fund, Rebholz says it is doing it for many reasons, including developing people skills within its own organisation by working with social enterprises, growing social impact in the communities in which it works and creating longer-term solutions in the energy chain.
Centrica's support of the Ignite fund makes it "the first private sector company to create a social investment fund on this scale (at least that I know of)", added Temple.
"What will differentiate it in future may well be the extent to which this ties in to their core business - through support, through partnership and through access to innovation."
Applications will close 28 February – 10 initial winners will receive a tailored support package; three will go on to participate in the Wayra Incubator's accelerator programme, and receive a minimum £50k investment. Winners will be announced in April 2014.