The PRECIOUS Awards, the leading awards programme for women of colour in the UK, has partnered with UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, to create a new awards category to recognise and support women who are driving lasting social change.
The PRECIOUS Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award is a new initiative that gives the category winner £15,000 to support their social venture to grow.
The £15,000 is an UnLtd Grow it Award which is a package of cash and support for up to 12 months.
The cash element can be used for living costs as well as venture costs to support the social entrepreneur as they grow their venture.
What you get
- 12 months mentoring and tailored support from an award manager, providing advice on operations and governance, to replication and growth strategies
- Up to £15,000 award to grow your venture, which can include personal expenses to allow you to work full time on your venture
- Expert advice including access to workshops and masterclasses
- Connections to investors, corporate partners and other successful entrepreneurs, helping you to develop your networks
Are you a social entrepreneur ready to grow your impact?
About you:
- Applicants must be aged 16 or over and living in the United Kingdom
- Beneficiaries must be UK based
Ventures are not eligible for an Award if they:
- Are part of the applicants paid employment (with an employer)
- Involve political or religious campaigning
- Involve activities outside of the law or against public policy, or anything that encourages ethnic, religious or commercial disharmony
- Are mainly for people to achieve academic qualifications
Individual criteria
- Have identified a social issue and developed a business model that works to solve it
- Have already achieved a compelling performance in their venture
- Are committed to delivering local, regional or national social impact at scale and have a track record of creating social impact.
- Are experienced, ambitious and capable of growing their venture
- Have a realistic growth plan to scale nationally or internationally
- Are committed to working full time in their venture
Initiative
- The venture is ideally less than five years old
- The venture is dynamic and has been running for at least one year
- The venture is ready to grow to local, regional or national scale and has a logical and appropriate plan to deliver this
- Have a compelling performance to date and/or a logical and appropriate plan for rapid growth to reach local, regional or national scale
