Feeding the City is a 1 year-long incubation programme for early-stage entrepreneurs passionate about creating sustainable food- related businesses that benefit UK communities and society at large, while creating employment opportunities particularly for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Feeding the City We want to to empower communities to make a positive difference to their lives by running a food business. • Nation-wide programme • 12 months of intense support • Fully funded • Designed for teams or individuals who are rooted in the community they are serving • Supporting sustainable food-related businesses to benefit communities, society and the environment Partners : Impact Hubs, Sustain, Food Ethics Council, WWF, Social Enterprise UK Funders: The Mark Leonard Trust, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Seeds of Change
How does it work? After applications, 16 teams are selected for a 1 month-long learning journey, simultaneously rolled out in 2 major UK cities The 8 that show the most entrepreneurial talent and impact potential in their target communities receive 9 further months of targeted support At the end of the programme, 8 food-related social businesses are created
Fo Focus cus Submitted ideas can relate to the Targeted communities can be local and production, access , processing , geographic in nature (such as the schools in distribution, consumption or/an d the Borough of Hackney); or a particular disposal of food in a more sustainable segment of the population (for example: the and socially impactful way elderly community) The programme looks at food issues from a Participants don’t need to present a proof of systemic point of view and contribute to concept, but need to prove they are backed address one of the UN Sustainable by the target community they are aiming to Development Goals (SDGs) benefit
Idea development Acceleration Seeding Sprouting Growing Harvesting • 2 months long • 1 month long • 3 months long • 6 months long • 12 Idea-generation • 2 weekends of learning • 3 events, 2 days each, • Bespoke support by Business Tutors and workshops in IHs and activities, held in major UK again over weekends, to Mentors partners across the UK cities bring the 8 finalists to the • Some site-visits, but most activities taking • Online application • Community Events or next stage of development place in loco • Selection of 16 winning Crowdfunding Campaigns • £5000 bursary • 1 business workshop followed by a large teams • £500 bursary Finance Fair • Final event to showcase (and taste) the final results December-February March April - June July - November
Seeding 1-mo month th camp ampai aign across cities where the Impact Hub Network is present and where it has partners 12 i 12 idea ea-generation works kshops aimed at learning about the programme, meet the organisers and other applicants, form teams and refine ideas So Social m med edia c campaign (including live-feeds during the workshops) Onl Online a ne application and 16 t 16 tea eams selected
Sprouting 1-mo month th learn arning journ rney business foundations and development of Bu Business Model Can anvas as and ch . El Eleva vator Pi Pitch Te Test t assump mpti tions by working closely with other participants and supported by business, social impact and sustainability experts. Un Understanding (and if necessary re-formulating) th the pro roblem statement. Co Community y eve vent or cr crowdfu funding ca campaign : ability to rally the target community
Growi Gro wing ng eams selected to ki rt their companies under the guidance of top mentors, business tutors and exp xperts . 8 8 team kick-sta start hs divided into 3 gatherings: 3 3 mont nths First ga Fi gather hering ng : finalise Action Plans and meet Mentors and Business Tutors . Workshops on financial forecasting, • organisational structures and marketing strategy. Sec Second nd ga gather hering ng : check progress against Action Plan, review assumptions accordingly and stress-test business • model. Meet experts in pricing strategy and customer segmentation. Th Third ga gather hering ng : finalise Business Plans •
Harvesting 6 mont 6 nths hs of personalised and hig highly hly- ta tailore red su support rt by mentors, business tutors and experts 1 business works kshop followed by a Finance Financ e Fair Fair Le Less cl clas assroom, mo more re fi field! Investment Market Approach Readiness Operational Capacity
Closing event High-vi Hi visibility y eve vent , hosted by Impact Hub King’s Cross in London. Ov Over 100 guests , including the 16 teams, Impact Hubs, programme’s donors, mentors, tutors, partners, and experts. Media campaign on feeding our Me growing cities and the communities that reside within them . Kick-start fol follow ow-up up ac actio ion n to scale ale those with potential
Meet the 2019 cohort
Ki Kina Ma Mama Kina Mama is a home delivery service of healthy organic food to new mums (postnatal and breastfeeding) in the area of royal borough of north kensington and Chelsea. We believe it takes a village to raise a child and we are here to offer our help and service.
Ti Tiger ermylk A locally made, dairy free milk, which is delivered in reusable glass bottles.
The Cooki king Club Healthy, affordable home-cooked food for everyone! The Cooking Club provides meal kits and classes specially designed for people with disabilities. The kits will include the ingredients to enable individuals to make healthy meals easily. People can gain work experience by working with us to prepare the meal kits.
Ur Urban Farm Shop The Urban Shop mission is to provide a secure route to market for local producers and ethically sourced food. We will open a convenience retailer with this ethos, attracting busy city residents through a high quality freshly made food to good offer.
Sisterwom woman Vegan Afro/Caribbean catering and supper clubs that aims to make veganism more accessible for the black community.
Ru Ruby by & Gra race We make make scrumptious plant- based food from African plants and botanicals while providing training and employment support for women.Every product bought contributes to empowering a woman in London and our farmers (mostly female) and set them on a path to financial independence.
Blackb kbirds Bake kery Ou Our m mis issio ion is is t to c create a an env environm nment entally sus ustaina nable, e, et ethi hical bake kery that works ks within the co community y provi viding training to hel help peo eople e get et int nto em employment ent. We We will provi ovide high qual ality, y, trad aditional onally-made bread and cake kes us using ng locally sour urced ed and nd socially res espons onsible e ing ngred edient ents in n Bi Birmingh gham’s Jewellery Quarter.
Br Brighton on Food ood Factor ory A food factory sustainably producing healthy affordable meals at scale using local suppliers.
Testimonials from the 2018 cohort
“The BCG training was very professional and attended by “I’m not sure we would have made so much progress without an impressive number of consultants, two of whom even Feeding the City incredible help and expertise. They are always had relevant food start-up experience. on hand to give us advice and talk through any problems we We named threats and opportunities along the complete may be experiencing, as well as putting us in touch with experts supply chain process of our particular business idea. It in the field. The best part of being on this programme is was enlightening to do an exercise that I had done many meeting other incredible food start-ups. We have made some times on large scale industrial projects applying to our amazing friendships and it is great to have other people to little start-up! Everyone really got into the exercise and bounce ideas off and share the highs and lows of setting up the results were useful for our own follow-up. Great minds your own business. Feeding the City also gave Voodoo Burgers focussed for an hour can give a great boost to a small our very first catering platform, enabling us to establish business start-up!” ourselves as a brand and to focus and promote our menu." Jenny Je y from Voodoo Bu Burgers Be Belinda from Ku Kurds & Whey y
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