New fund launched to support young social entrepreneurs and improve financial inclusion

Fionn Travers-Smith
Financial Inclusion Manager
Phoenix Group

With the ongoing cost of living crisis increasing the pressure on peoples’ budgets and quality of life, financial inclusion has risen up the agenda as an approach that could help to alleviate some of the pressure and potentially address some of its root causes.

Whether its improving peoples’ skills and confidence to engage with their finances, or making products, services, and firms more accessible and relevant to peoples’ lives, financial inclusion aims to help people get more from their money and improve their financial lives.

As the UK’s largest pensions and long-term savings provider, the purpose of the Phoenix Group is to help people secure a life of possibilities, supporting people on their journey to and through retirement. To achieve this, customers need financial inclusion and resilience in the present, so they can invest in and build resilience for their future.

Two years ago Phoenix Group developed a financial inclusion strategy that focused on underserved groups, specifically those people who face additional barriers to understanding or accessing financial services, and whose needs aren’t currently well catered for.

We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done in this space, from supporting more women to understand the financial impact of life events that can widen the gender pension gap, to providing greater signposting and support for those with caring responsibilities.

We  recognise, however,  that we can’t solve financial hardship or exclusion on our own, and that there are many others with brilliant ideas that can help make a difference. Employers have a role to play. SMEs, the lifeblood of the economy, provide essential innovation and new approaches. The charity and voluntary sector too is fantastic at supporting those in difficult circumstances. For us, working with others is essential to achieve the scale and impact that the cost of living crisis has made an urgent priority.

We’ve therefore teamed up with UnLtd, the foundation for social entrepreneurs, and the Co-operative Foundation, the charitable arm of the Co-op Group, to launch a new partnership on financial inclusion called the Funding Futures Programme.

The programme offers non-repayable grants, financial education, and business support to young entrepreneurs who are building social enterprises focused on improving financial inclusion, with the fund having recently opened for applications.

We’re particularly keen to hear from entrepreneurs from diverse or underserved communities , and/or where their solution is developed from lived experience. This can help interventions have more relevance to their target audience, and also provides the opportunity to empower those with the greatest knowledge of the problem to create and build their own solutions. [NL1] 

The fund is open to young social entrepreneurs based anywhere in the UK, at any stage of their business journey including start-ups, scale-ups, and anything in between. To apply,  entrepreneurs must be aged 16-30 and working on a solution that is contributing to improving financial inclusion.

To read the full eligibility criteria and to prepare your application, visit the Funding Futures Programme page at https://www.unltd.org.uk/awards/funding-futures-programme

We look forward to hearing from you, and to working together to help more people secure a life of possibilities, and the financial inclusion and resilience that everyone deserves.