The young people, around the world, helping to fight Covid-19
As the coronavirus pandemic has spread around the world, young people working with charities, businesses, universities and grassroots community organisations have been playing their part in the fight against Covid-19. Hanna Winter is more used to making the children in refugee camps laugh, rather than clowning around on a Zoom conference call. But for the […]
Black VC investor ‘Impact X’ – why people of colour and women founders in Europe are ripe for funding
Too often we have heard stories of minority-led businesses, in particular those within Europe, having their ideas sometimes treated with contempt or misled into thinking they are not investment-worthy. Well, this black-owned venture capital firm Impact X Capital, launched in 2018, is tired of discussing these problems and are actively funding people of colour and […]
Voices of ‘diverse women’ – Why the world is ready!
As women, we are constantly told what we should and shouldn’t be doing; how we should look, what we should eat, what exercise routines we should nail, who we should date and how we should feel about ourselves, our bodies, our jobs, our lives – the lot. ‘So many women have shared similar experiences but […]
The six global food startups in the race to feed billions of people and reduce our carbon footprint
From plant-based pork combating diseases to microbes converting greenhouse gas into food – these sustainable food innovations are some of the ideas competing for the Food Planet Prize award aimed at remodelling the global food sector. Ending hunger by 2030 is one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and it looks like we might be falling […]
Coronavirus Outbreak: “I can’t work from home and most of my family can’t because we all work in the care sector.”
What the #COVID19 outbreak is teaching us is simply how the workers classed as ‘low skilled’ by the government are now the real ‘Most Valuable Players’ (MVPs) crucial to keeping the economy running – Coronavirus. As the Coronavirus pandemic escalates and millions of Britons are told to isolate themselves in their homes, Shannon Summerfield in […]
The next generation inventors ‘creating’ to fix our health and the planet
With ideas hailing from sustainability, med-tech, sport-tech and mental health – these newest generation of inventors are creating to solve our health issues and the ecosystem. The founders are the recent cohorts joining the Central Research Laboratory (CRL), the UK’s first purpose-built hardware accelerator for product designers inventing ‘for societal good’. Selected from over 85 […]
Sierra Leone going plastic-free with entrepreneurship
Plastic waste usage continues to be on the rise in several parts of sub-Saharan Africa, with Sierra Leone being among them. So, how are they using entrepreneurship to work towards ending the use of plastic? I recently spent a month in the capital city Freetown, where I noticed when walking to the famous Sani Abacha […]
Facebook launches ‘Community Accelerator’ for leaders to boost the growth of their online groups
The newly launched Community Accelerator program will see Facebook invest up to $3 million – over £2 million – in the leaders of online communities making an impact in the world. Part of Facebook’s Community Leadership program, which invests in people building communities globally, the six-month initiative will train, mentor and fund 80 communities to […]
Ideas on how to save us from Coronavirus apocalypse? The European Commission wants to fund you with €164 million (over £148 million)
Startups and SMEs are invited to urgently apply for funding from the European Innovation Council to create technologies and other innovations to help in treating, testing and monitoring the Coronavirus outbreak. With a budget of €164m (over £148m), the Commission is looking to fast track the awarding of the EIC grant in this round of […]
Why being a ‘women of colour entrepreneur’ is a challenging business
Women of colour are hustling like never before to launch their own companies. In fact, figures show they are starting new businesses faster than any other demographic. A 2019 survey conducted in the US revealed that women of colour account for 89% (1,625) of the new businesses opened every day. The challenges they face, however, […]