Today, Friday 29th October, Big Issue Invest (BII) has announced the eight social ventures which have been chosen to receive support from the Big Issue Invest’s Power Up Scotland scheme.
Power Up Scotland is a lending scheme that offers investment, advice and support to early stage social ventures across Scotland. This year the scheme has been able to offer £500,000 worth of investment in total.
The eight social ventures which will receive support from the Big Issue Invest scheme are: Ayrshire Women’s Hub, Bikes For Refugees, Brave Strong Beautiful, Coffee + Clay, Common Ground Against Homelessness, Lochend Football Academy, MyPickle and Wee Seeds.
Big Issue Invest’s Power Up programme, launched in 2017, was opened to organisations across Scotland from July to September this year. The funding scheme aims to enable organisations to build on the good work they currently do within their communities. Whether it’s buying equipment, hiring new talent, or progressing with business development plans. Successful applicants receive mentoring and business development support to social ventures for the two-year period.
The programme is funded by partners, abrdn, University of Edinburgh, Experian, Places for People and the Scottish Government with legal support from Brodies LLP.
Danyal Sattar, CEO of Big Issue Invest, said: “It is challenging as a social venture to secure early-stage funding. We are, therefore, so pleased, working with our brilliant partners in Scotland, to be able to support these organisations with the investment and business development expertise that they need in order to make an even greater difference.