Four firms awarded £7,500 prizes in microentrepreneurship awards celebrating their success and support from responsible finance providers
A business launched to make the world accessible to disabled travelers, a plastic-free zero waste store which has revitalised its local area, a recording studio and music education social enterprise, and Glasgow’s first new rum distillery for 300 years are the winners of this year’s Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards, delivered in partnership by Responsible Finance and the Citi Foundation.
Each has been supported by a “responsible finance” provider when they could not access traditional finance to develop. An independent panel of judges chose the four firms (Limitless Travel, The Refillery, HQ CAN and Wester Spirit Co) as the category winners in The Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards.
Launched in 2005, (and in 2013 in the UK), the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards were established by the Citi Foundation to recognise best-in-class microentrepreneurs and celebrate the responsible finance sector and their contribution to national economies.
Each winning business receives a prize of £7,500, while six other businesses which made it to the Awards final were awarded £2,000.
Alongside the businesses, two responsible finance providers are recognised for their impact and their resilience, with two further special awards for individuals working for providers.
Winner profiles – businesses:
Birmingham-based Limitless Travel, which makes the world accessible to all disabled travelers, is 2020’s Growth Award winner. Limitless was launched after founder Angus Drummond was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and decided to travel the world – an amazing experience but a discovery of the difficulties of traveling with a disability. His review and advice website for disabled travelers has grown into “more than a travel company,” a proud provider of supported and bespoke holidays for people with a wide range of mobility restrictions and disabilities.
The business has been supported by an incubation programme and seed investment from Key Fund. It now employs 14 people and enables hundreds of people to travel in the UK and worldwide.
Edinburgh’s plastic-free and zero waste store, The Refillery, is the UK’s most exceptional business contributing to Sustainability. Since opening at the start of 2019 it has become a community hub and revitalised its local area.
In the Refillery’s first year alone it beat all sales projections, created 5 jobs and saved over 120,000 pieces of plastic packaging from being used. Founder and Director Kelly Wright opened The Refillery after a 20-year career in food manufacturing, during which she became aware of the impact plastic pollution was having on the environment. Kelly used her savings to meet half of the startup costs of the business, with the remainder covered by a loan from DSL Business Finance.
Yasin El Ashrafi, founder of HQ Creative Arts Network which uses music and spoken word creation, music studio recording, events, and performances to combat mental ill-health, addiction issues and low confidence, is the UK’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year.
HQ CAN generates income through commercial studio hire, mastering and artist development services, and gives participants a way of making an income with their activities often leading to employment. A business loan and grant package from Key Fund helped Yasin set up an additional recording studio to double capacity for his commercial clients, charitable funded projects, and record label HQ Familia.
Zander Macgregor and Allan Nairn of Wester Spirit Co, Glasgow’s first rum distillery for 300 years, are the UK’s “Young Microentrepreneurs of the Year.” Zander and Allan both enjoyed rum and wondered why it wasn’t being made in Scotland.
They launched Wester Spirit Co in 2017, tested and perfected their own craft rums, and went on to set up Glasgow’s first rum distillery for 300 years, a zero waste to landfill business. Their products are stocked in over 300 establishments; and their spiced rum has been named in the top 10 spiced rums in the world by The Independent. A loan from DSL Business Finance supported Wester’s growth.
Recognition for Responsible Finance Providers:
Launched in 2005, (and in 2013 in the UK), the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards were established by the Citi Foundation to recognise best-in-class microentrepreneurs and celebrate the responsible finance sector and their contribution to national economies.
Social Investment Scotland (SIS), which has taken a comprehensive approach to social impact measurement and reporting for many years, is the winner of the Impact Award. Over 1.1 million people benefited from SIS customers’ activities in the last financial year, with 40% of those living in poverty; its impact measurement has built trust and secured funding. Key Fund is the runner up.
Fair Finance is this year’s winner of the Resilience Award, having re-balanced its business in 2018 to direct all its resources to personal lending and advice (where it makes the most impact), and create a clear path to financial sustainability and resilience. It went on to grow the number of people it served by 10%, all while maintaining its focus on women and the low income communities around the country. Purple Shoots is the runner up.
Lynda Baynes of Lancashire Community Finance is 2020’s Outstanding Loan Officer of the Year. Lynda has excellent communication skills and goes above and beyond to help LCF’s customers secure additional income, or find ways to make additional savings so their income can go further. This has had a profound impact on those customers reducing their stress and securing work.
And the winner of the Responsible Finance Rising Star Award – which champions the efforts of an individual to improve access to finance and support the Responsible Finance industry – is Jessica Jackson of GC Business Finance. Jessica has played a huge part in addressing the gender balance in equity investment for businesses in Manchester and the North West. Due to Jess’s outreach, 64% of capital raised by her team will have been investment into women founded or mixed founded teams where the wider industry average is 11%.
The winners were revealed at a live, online ceremony on the evening of 9 July 2020 at which Theodora Hadjimichael, chief executive of Responsible Finance, said judges were “blown away” by the excellence and impact of this year’s applicants. The independent judging panel included Bob Annibale, Amal Gomersall and Kyla Gineitis from Citi Foundation, Vicki Belt from Enterprise Research Centre, James Pickford from the Financial Times newspaper, and former Award winner Mona Shah from Harry Specters.
Responsible Finance providers are a crucial part of the UK’s financial sector and the leading financial institutions offering affordable finance to many small and micro enterprises, and social enterprises.
The UK’s 5.6 million microenterprises – businesses with 9 or fewer staff – account for 96% of all businesses and employ over 9 million people. Some would not exist at all without the financial and business support they access from the UK’s ethical “responsible finance” sector, which in 2019 lent £171 million to thousands of credit-worthy businesses and social enterprises rejected by or unable to access finance from mainstream lenders. And the sector has provided crucial support to businesses through the Covid-19 crisis.
Theodora Hadjimichael, Chief Executive of Responsible Finance, said: “Each year we look forward to celebrating the responsible finance sector through these awards. This is the seventh year we held the Citi Awards, and is perhaps the most unique. We have been hugely impressed by the innovation, resilience and flexibility of all of this year’s winners and finalists. These outstanding businesses are creating jobs, opportunities and positive economic, social and environmental impacts in their communities, and the responsible finance providers have continued working tirelessly throughout the Covid-19 crisis to support their customers.”
Amal Gomersall, Vice President of Community Development, EMEA, Citi, said: “The global Covid-19 pandemic has taken its toll on both human life and livelihoods around the world. In many ways, now more than ever, we need the entrepreneurial mindset and skills of small business owners to help restart the economy, provide access to goods and services to their communities and create jobs. We also need the knowledge and expertise of the responsible finance sector to bolster entrepreneurs and households across the UK. Every single finalist, whether microentrepreneur, responsible finance provider or sector leader deserves recognition for the work they do.”
What next?
- Links to profiles of all the microentrepreneur finalists in this year’s Awards.
- Watch the online awards ceremony: