At Brabners, we see it as our responsibility to do whatever we can to try and help improve the world around us.
While we would never claim to have all the answers, it is why we – led by the head of our Technology Sector group, Piers Dryden – joined up with social enterprise Foundervine this year to launch a legal knowledge accelerator for entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups.
Foundervine seeks to remove barriers to entry for those from diverse backgrounds looking to break into the digital sector. As few as one in 20 SMEs in Britain are led by someone from a Black or minority ethnic background, and Foundervine aims to address this by partnering with local government, universities and corporate teams to create comprehensive start-up accelerators that help BAME entrepreneurs develop their businesses.
By linking burgeoning entrepreneurs with access to networks, high-impact learning opportunities and investment-readiness support, so far Foundervine has helped more than 2,000 aspiring entrepreneurs since its launch in 2018.
One of the most difficult aspects of starting a business is often navigating the legalities - especially for those without access to legal advice - so when discussing how we could work with Foundervine, it made perfect sense to launch a Legal Knowledge Accelerator. Spanning six weeks, the aim of the programme was to illuminate and demystify key legal principles through a series of masterclasses, to enable participants to navigate common legal topics with confidence as they grow their business.
Through input from the group’s delegates, we identified a selection of the key legal challenges faced by new founders and developed a syllabus helping to build founders’ acumen in a wide range of areas including funding and investment, commercial operations, asset protection and achieving successful outcomes and exits. Lawyers from across our specialist teams also worked to deliver dedicated one-to-one support, community-building initiatives and networking opportunities for those involved in the course.
We also drew on our network of clients and collaborators to bring in the expertise of some of the digital sector’s brightest, to share advice around what it takes to develop a successful business from scratch.
I’m pleased to say the programme to date has been a real success, and many of the initial cohort of 25 early-stage business founders and our team have stayed in contact, so that we can continue to provide personalised advice and counsel whenever they need it. The scheme has also given us greater insight into the deep pool of entrepreneurial talent that this country has to offer, and we’re looking forward to witnessing the continued development of the businesses involved.
Our work with Foundervine forms just part of the wider efforts of our Together Action Group (TAG) in championing equality, diversity and inclusion both in the legal sector and in the wider business community. We’re proud to partner with the team at Foundervine and we hope to further develop our partnership in the future to benefit other businesses across the UK.
