Firstport LaunchMe Webinar

Firstport’s LaunchMe programme is now open for applications.

As Scotland’s social enterprise accelerator, LaunchMe aims to prepare social enterprises and incorporated community organisations for growth, in order for them to achieve social impact at scale. The programme selects a cohort of up to 8 organisations each year to prepare them for growth and help them secure investment.

LaunchMe is an intensive programme that runs over 4 phases. The current phases is “ConnectMe”, and the cohort will work together April – November 2022 to get investment-ready. Those selected to join the cohort are expected to commit around10 hours per month to attend group and one-to-one sessions. In between sessions, they will be applying and incorporating new learning into their business and processes.

Information Webinars

Firstport is also hosting information Zoom webinars for groups and organisations interested in applying, on:

• Tuesday 23^rd November from 12:30pm: BOOKING LINK
• Wednesday 8^th December from 8am: BOOKING LINK
• Monday 10^th January from 10am: BOOKING LINK

Eligibility

To be eligible for LaunchMe, groups and organisations must be:

• based in Scotland and operating primarily for the benefit of people, or communities, in Scotland
• not involved in political campaigning or the advancement of religion
• providing direct social benefit to individuals, communities and/or the environment
• incorporated, with an asset lock (this means that profits from the enterprise are reinvested in the business and its social aims and cannot be transferred to private individuals or bodies); if not incorporated yet, applicants must have identified the most suitable structure for the enterprise and expect to be incorporated by February 2022
• ambitious, with aspirations for growth and plans to scale up, but has not yet secured appropriate investment to fund the plans
• does not provide any services or activities that statutory bodies have an obligation to provide

Outcomes

By the end of the programme, participants should:

• have strong processes and systems in place that will enable growth
• have a robust growth plan with a defined investment ask
• have identified potential risks and weaknesses in their business and a plan to mitigate these
• have the confidence to approach suitable investors to help realise their plans
• be ready to achieve impact at scale

To apply, or for further information, please visit the Firstport website.