Social Business Impact Programme launches to support growth of social enterprises led by women of colour

7 July 2022

Charities Aid Foundation and Hatch Enterprise are launching a social investment programme specifically for London-based social businesses led by women of colour.

Funded by JPMorgan Chase and private donors, the programme is for social businesses that have a clear social or environmental impact mission and reinvest or donate their profits to make a positive social change.

It offers up to £70,000 per social enterprise in funding. This ‘blended finance’ investment includes:

up to £50,000 in zero-interest loans to be repaid over 5 years
a grant worth up to £20,000
opportunities to apply for further low interest loans worth up to £150k
The female business leaders will also be supported to make the best use of the funding with mentoring, coaching, business advice and workshops to help them grow.

The programme is focused on social businesses led by women or other marginalised genders from an ethnic minority background. This follows recent findings that these businesses face greater challenges accessing social investment, and therefore struggle to grow. For instance, Social Enterprise UK’s ‘State of Social Enterprise Survey 2021’ found that social enterprises are not growing equally – the median turnover for social enterprises led by Black women was £31,900, compared to an overall median turnover of £100,000.1

The programme is open for applications until 1 August 2022 and will run between 2022-23.

Neil Heslop OBE, Chief Executive at the Charities Aid Foundation said:

“Social businesses help tackle social problems, improve communities and individual lives, and positively impact the environment.

“In our 20th year of championing social investment, we’re excited to launch this programme specifically for social businesses run by women of colour, working with Hatch Enterprise and with the support of JPMorgan Chase. We know that minority-led businesses have historically struggled to access funding required to grow, so we’re looking forward to meeting a whole host of promising businesses and their leaders, and helping to increase their social impact.”

Joanna Hamer, Head of Cohort Programmes at Hatch Enterprise, commented:

“At Hatch we know that opportunity is unequally distributed in the entrepreneurship sphere, and that underrepresented groups including women of colour face additional barriers to launching and growing their business, particularly regarding access to funding.

“We’re proud to be working with the Charities Aid Foundation and J.P. Morgan Chase to provide this much needed social investment programme, and excited about the people we'll be able to support both in the short and long term."

Hang Ho, Head of International Global Philanthropy at J.P. Morgan Chase, added:

“Through the Social Business Impact Programme, we are excited to support these social business as well as have our JPMorgan Chase employees participate in mentoring and coaching activities with the female founders.”

“This effort will bring invaluable learnings to participating entrepreneurs who leverage the programme resources. Through our five-year, $350 million (USD) commitment to business growth efforts, JPMorgan Chase is committed to help grow underserved small businesses, close the racial wealth divide and create a more inclusive economy.”

Notes to Editors

1.SEUK-SOSE-Report-DIGITAL-1.pdf (socialenterprise.org.uk)

2.For more about the programme: see CAF website and apply on Hatch website

3.About CAF Venturesome

CAF Venturesome is Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)’s impact focused social investment fund supporting social enterprises and charities to sustain and grow their impact. Since 2002, it has made over 700 social investments totalling £60m+. www.cafonline.org

4.About Hatch Enterprise

Hatch is a charity that supports underrepresented entrepreneurs to develop the knowledge, confidence, and skills needed to launch and grow a business. They deliver workshops, events, and 1-2-1 volunteering support, connecting entrepreneurs in supportive community, and building networks and partnerships with other organisations. Since 2014, Hatch has supported more than 6,000 entrepreneurs on their journey to build sustainable, impactful businesses, bringing them together with the experience and skills of more than 1000 mentors and coaches in the process.
www.hatchenterprise.org

5. About JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading financial services firm based in the United States of America (“U.S.”), with operations worldwide. JPMorgan Chase had $4.0 trillion in assets and $285.9 billion in stockholders’ equity as of March 31, 2022. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management. Under the J.P. Morgan and Chase brands, the Firm serves millions of customers in the U.S., and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients globally. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com