Young Entrepreneurs

Young Entrepreneur applications have been extended until 1 PM on Monday, 4th December 2023! Find out more and apply below.

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About the pillar

Our Young Entrepreneurs pillar focuses on nurturing the talents and innovative thinking of young Londoners. We want to encourage their creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, and community engagement by supporting their ideas and aspirations. We firmly believe in their potential which drives our commitment to providing the resources and opportunities to turn their visions into reality and help them succeed.

We will offer grants of up to £15,000 to a cohort of young entrepreneurs aged 16-24. These grants are designed to support the development of social enterprise ideas, with a focus on ventures in the sports and physical activity sector. This could encompass a wide range of initiatives, from sports-for-change enterprises and activewear businesses to sport tech startups and behaviour change programmes that prioritise social impact. In our first year of funding, we aim to prioritise early-stage ideas. To further empower our grantees, we have teamed up with the School of Social Entrepreneurs and Bayes Business School to provide mentorship, networking opportunities, training, and more!

We aim to recruit a diverse cohort of young people, supporting young people from ethnically diverse backgrounds and those with disabilities.

Eligibility

Every year, this programme will provide 20 young people with ‘ideas incubation’ support to develop their venture proposals. 10 will receive up to £15,000 over a year to develop their social enterprise ideas, alongside mentoring, action-learning sets, and development support.

Eligibility Criteria
  • Between the ages of 16 and 24 and have the right to work in the UK
  • Want to (or already have) set up a business or project that makes a difference to their community (social purpose business/sole trader)
  • The idea has sport and physical activity at its heart
  • At an early stage, either new or less than two years old and have an income of under £30,000, (though there may be some exceptions if for example a business has been set up, but left dormant)
    Mainly working with (young) people living in London.

Grant Timelines

This programme will support 3 cohorts of Young Entrepreneurs across 3 years. See below for cohort 1 timelines starting October 2023.

Cohort 1 timeline
19th October – 4th December 2023Recruitment and Engagement
Mid December 2023Cohort of 20 young people selected and their ideas incubated
December 2023 – January 2024Ideas Incubation stage
Early February 2024Final cohort of Young Entrepreneurs selected
February 2024Young Entrepreneurs announced
March – February 2024Young Entrepreneurs receive grants and ongoing support