Good Ideas: From riots to riches? How community unrest inspired Foundervine’s Izzy Obeng to shift the landscape of opportunity for underrepresented founders
For Cambridge Social Innovation Prizewinner Izzy Obeng, co-founder of Foundervine, the 2011 riots in her London community inspired a drive to change the system which perpetuated the economic status quo.
Widespread riots are not the most obvious starting point for a journey which ends in being awarded an MBE and winning the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize. But for Izzy Obeng, who grew up in Tottenham, north London, the 2011 riots were just that.
The riots spread across the UK, but started as protests in Tottenham following the killing of a black man, Mark Duggan, who was shot dead by police on 4 August.
For Obeng (pictured), the protests and subsequent riots clarified the urgent needs of her community and inspired in her a drive to change the system which perpetuated the economic status quo.
Obeng says: “Seeing what the community were going through and the disillusionment that existed was really, really hard as a young person, the number of young people who just didn't see themselves reflected in the economic story of the UK, who didn’t see themselves in television, who didn’t see themselves in Canary Wharf.”
Working in management consulting after university, Obeng had the realisation that the support she was providing to some of the largest institutions in the world would be much more impactful if delivered for small organisations to foster talent and achieve sustainability.
The organisation Obeng co-founded - Foundervine - aims to be the answer to questions Obeng was asking, including ‘how do we create space for people who have brilliant ideas and don’t know where to start?’ and ‘how can we bring capital providers together with emerging entrepreneurial talent from diverse backgrounds who can often feel shut out of mainstream startup programmes?’.
Ultimately, Obeng is seeking to grow generational wealth and prosperity in communities like Tottenham, which she witnessed so viscerally express their pain and anger in 2011.
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The Cambridge Social Innovation Prize The Cambridge Social Innovation Prize celebrates social impact through business across the UK. It is a prize for mid-career social innovators. Rather than targeting the rising stars or presenting lifetime achievement awards, it recognises those with potential to grow their impact who could use support to get to the next level. It is delivered by Trinity Hall and the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation. Winners of the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize are selected for their achievements and potential in creating positive social impact for individuals and communities in different parts of the UK. These awards are made annually to extraordinary founder-CEOs of scale up social enterprises to support their growth as leaders. The Cambridge Social Innovation Prize includes a £10,000 cash award for personal and professional development. Additionally, mentoring from experts from Cambridge Social Ventures at Cambridge Judge Business School and support from an expanding community of social innovators at Trinity Hall help the winners to develop the skills, resources and networks they need to create more impact.
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‘Corporate activists’ removing social and economic barriers
Foundervine is a social enterprise offering accelerators, investment readiness programmes and further support to diverse founders. Since 2017 Foundervine has helped over 1,200 businesses grow. Its ventures have raised tens of millions in capital and created over 600 jobs.
Operating as a consultancy, Foundervine builds programmes for partners which Obeng says tend to be institutional clients which want to connect with startup founders. Examples of Foundervine partners include the UK government, Barclays Bank and Ernst and Young.
Obeng describes Foundervine as “corporate activists” and says the organisation’s mission is to democratise innovation by removing social and economic barriers that prevent access to entrepreneurship.
At the very core of it is asking yourselves that question, what kind of Britain do we want to see? What kind of world do we want to see?
She says: “At the very core of it is asking yourselves that question, what kind of Britain do we want to see? What kind of world do we want to see? One that's built with inclusion in mind, one that has everyone included on that journey towards that future that they want to see.”
In order to achieve that, Obeng and Foundervine seek to invest in women-led businesses and businesses led by people from non-traditional backgrounds. Over 63% of its programme participants are women and over 85% are racially minoritised individuals.
Obeng cites Diversity VC's 2019 report Venturing into Diversity and Inclusion, which found less than 1% of venture capital spending was going to all female founder teams. The report found 11% of venture captial spending was going to mixed gender teams and 89% was going to all male teams.
She said that in the five years since that study was published, given the amount of attention that has been brought to issues around diversity, there would have been some progress in access to capital for female funders. But Obeng says: “Unfortunately, the stats haven’t moved. So our mission has never been more important.”
Izzy Obeng co-founded Foundervine in 2017
Key elements of Foundervine’s work are supporting founders to access capital and developing ventures’ investment readiness. Obeng says: “There are historic reasons why women have traditionally had less agency, less access to knowledge, less access to networks and less access to the resources that they need to build businesses.”
Through developing leadership, teams, structures and an understanding of what investors are looking for, Foundervine helps founders tailor their proposition and ensure they’re asking for the right amount of capital.
In addition to direct support for founders and ventures, Foundervine advocates for change in the wider ecosystem and supports policy change to deliver better support for founders from diverse backgrounds.
Obeng says: “We’re lobbying for more funding for businesses. We’re in boardrooms making sure that it’s a strategic priority to support smaller businesses, emerging businesses, and that banks and corporate institutions are taking that very seriously as well.”
Proving that innovation and opportunity can thrive in every community
In December it was announced Obeng is being awarded by MBE in the King's New Year Honours List 2025 for her outstanding contributions to UK digital growth and her tireless advocacy for underrepresented entrepreneurs.
In a statement, Obeng said: “[The MBE] reflects the incredible efforts of the entire Foundervine team, our partners, and the remarkable entrepreneurs we serve. Together, we are proving that innovation and opportunity can thrive in every community.”
Obeng hopes the MBE will help Foundervine open up conversations with government, corporates, and the tech industry about how they can collaborate to contribute to a more inclusive economy in the UK.
It’s been a real moment of bringing our team and ecosystem together
Reflecting further on the award of the MBE to Pioneers Post, Obeng added: “It’s been a real moment of bringing our team and ecosystem together, reflecting the collective effort of my team, our clients, partners, and, most importantly, the founders we work with to drive our mission forward.”
In 2024 Obeng was one of four winners of the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize. Obeng used part of the prize money to attend a VC founder retreat, which she said gave her the space to reflect on the future direction of Foundervine. The Foundervine team is using the rest of the money to attend conferences and international engagements this year.
The coaching and mentoring Obeng will receive from the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize has just begun, but she said she is looking forward to how it will further refine Foundervine’s approach to growth and scaling its impact sustainably.
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