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Social Enterprise achieve social impact using BII’s Social Impact Index.


Bonds and fund management BII is also establishing a Fund Management business. It’s first fund – the Social Enterprise Investment Fund LP – providing growth capital to high impact, scalable social enterprises. The Fund raised £9.25 million from 22 Limited Partners, including HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and individuals, such as Eric Lonergan of M&G. BII is currently investing in the fund and has a strong pipeline of opportunities.


Through BII Public Markets, BII is currently planning to launch a £100 million retail social bond fund, in association with a leading asset management firm. This product is expected to be distributed through high street banks through ISA products as well as attract direct investment.


Central to BII’s Research and Development programme is a major business partnership with Experian and social housing landlords, to add social rent payment data to traditional credit scoring models as a way of tackling financial exclusion. This project could benefit over 1.5 million low-income people.


One of Kershaw’s latest initiatives to drive social entrepreneurship is the Early Stage Corporate Social Venture (CSV) Challenge. This programme provides investment as well as mentoring to help early stage social ventures build their businesses in partnership with corporate organisations and to `take them to the next level`. The programme is designed to provide a sustainable flow of investment capital and enterprise support to ventures delivering social value. As well as clear benefits to the enterprises involved and the communities they serve, corporate partners will also gain access to BII’s proven expertise in selecting, financing, and supporting social ventures.


Tech for Good Challenge The Tech for Good Challenge is the first initiative in this programme. It differs from BBI’s other investment schemes in that the venture needs to be in its early-phase development and be using digital technology to help solve social issues for, or with, young people. Although there are several key initiatives supporting start-ups that use digital and technology for social good, there is currently a lack of financing available to those in their growth phase.


The programme is designed to propel ventures forward through a collaborative competition-style programme called ‘Caterpillars’ Cocoon’ – the antithesis of the cartoon commercial combat in ‘Dragons Den’. It offers social entrepreneurs the opportunity to work with leading corporate partners offering a mix of skills and expertise in addition to a range of other support offerings.


The initiative is a partnership between Big Issue Invest and Nominet Trust with support from five corporate partners:


22 entrepreneurcountry


Bank of America Merrill Lynch, LDC, MITIE, Salesforce Foundation and Unity Trust Bank. The Challenge is also supported by The Big Lottery.


The end result if the social entrepreneur has a strong team, a track record and ambitious plans, is a chance to gain up to £50,000 investment as part of a programme involving £500,000 investment and mentoring to turn early-stage ventures into successful enterprises delivering sustainable social and financial returns.


NEET answer Kershaw’s


enthusiasm for Tech for Good and the


entrepreneurial approach to social challenges is palpable. “Everywhere you look, people’s lives are being transformed by digital and technology,” he says. “We’ve set out to find 10 enterprises that are using technology to positively transform the lives of young people, particularly the more than one million young people in the UK not in education, employment or training (NEETs).”


And, in typically forthright fashion, he emphasises “It’s not just about providing these ventures with money. It’s about our corporate partners providing their resources, expertise and market knowledge too. By ensuring they are truly engaged with the ventures in which they are investing, we redefine the idea of corporate social responsibility. Our ultimate aim is to create an environment that makes it easier for young people to change their lives.”


But, ultimately, Tech for Good is simply the latest chapter in the story of how BII is helping social entrepreneurship to make a real difference to people’s lives. As Kershaw says, “We’ve funded a gas fitting and maintenance company that was part of a regeneration social enterprise with 75 per cent of its workforce being young kids from some of the UK’s most deprived wards. The business sounds mundane but with the proper training those kids are getting, that’s three generations of welfare dependency cracked.”


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