Entrepreneurship is an important pillar of the economy – not only because it has the power to drive innovation, but also due to the fact that it holds a great potential for advancing social inclusion by creating jobs and alternative opportunities of income. Despite its power to trigger development, lots of people are still under-represented in the sector – women, ethnic minorities, seniors, youth, migrants and people with disabilities, for example.

Aiming at equipping underserved communities with entrepreneurial knowledge, training and tools to succeed in transforming their ideas into thriving ventures and careers, Impact Hub partnered with GoDaddy for the third cohort of New Roots, which is running between 2021 and 2022. The program promotes personalized business startup mentoring and makes resources, networks and expertise that are necessary to kick-start and grow early-stage enterprises accessible to all participants.

The program was piloted in 2019 by Impact Hub King’s Cross, in the United Kingdom, with a focus on supporting migrant and refugee entrepreneurs. For the 2020-2021 edition, it expanded to Germany through Impact Hub Munich, and the target audience for each location changed. Impact Hub Kings Cross addressed entrepreneurs from Black, Asian, and minority ethnicities, while Impact Hub Munich provided support to women entrepreneurs — in particular, mothers facing multiple discrimination factors when re-entering the job market.

For more details on the impact and participants profiles of previous editions of the program, discover their final reports here.

In the current cohort of New Roots, both locations kept their previous target groups – Impact Hub Munich is providing support to Mompreneurs from the region, and Impact Hub King’s Cross is assisting 20 entrepreneurs and early-stage ventures from Black, Asian, and minority ethnicities based in Camden & Islington. Alumni from previous editions played a key role in this edition, as they shared experiences and learnings around their entrepreneurial journey, setting the ground and expectations for the participants to follow for the rest of the programme.

Valerie Irish, for example, is one of the most active New Roots alumni who is now giving back to the entrepreneurial community through her social business, which aims to engage people – especially the youth – to gain access to crafts. She started her venture as a platform to show the diversity of her community and that age holds no barriers to creativity or establishing a business, and has now become an inspiration for the New Roots newcomers.

Wrapping up New Roots’ third edition: the final events

For the New Roots 2021-2022 cohort, both Impact Hub locations where the program is running will host a final event open to the local public. 

The events will be an opportunity to connect the local communities and interested stakeholders with the program’s participants and experienced staff, as well as to critically reflect about the systemic barriers these groups face and how we can come together to strengthen more diverse local entrepreneurial ecosystems. In addition, it will also be the moment to showcase the entrepreneurs’ experiences, challenges and learned lessons – and, indeed, celebrate their results and resilience throughout that journey.

Supported by GoDaddy and the City of Munich, Impact Hub Munich is wrapping up the current New Roots edition targeted at Mompreneurs by throwing “Reinventing Entrepreneurship wie Frauen* Unternehmertum veränder” (which translates to “How women change entrepreneurship”) on Thursday, March 17th 6:30-9:00 pm. If you’re around and would like to attend it, free registrations can be done here. 

Meanwhile, Impact Hub King’s Cross will be the stage for “Accelerating Local Entrepreneurship”, focusing on the outcomes from this New Roots cohort dedicated to Black, Asian and Minority Etnic Entrepreneurs in Camden & Islington. In London, at the same time, same day –  Thursday, March 17th 6:30-9:00 pm. Register to the event on this link.

Join us for the events and stay tuned to learn more about New Roots 2021-2022 + how the program has supported an exceptional cohort of entrepreneurs.