The Poverty Prevention Challenge
The Greater London Authority partnered with Allia for the 2nd phase of The Mayor’s Challenge LDN Programme (Poverty Prevention Challenge).
The Challenge was designed for 7 innovators who are dedicated to scaling their solutions over 6 months and provide them with the necessary tools and techniques to grow across London, supporting Londoners in need. A range of support will be delivered such as workshops, 1-1 coaching, as well as being engaged with a wider community of impact-led start-ups. The chosen companies will also receive up to £50,000 to develop their projects.
We spoke to one of the innovators to ask about their experience so far on the challenge and what they hope to achieve.
Tom Barltrop, co-founder of SuperFi – an easy-to-navigate digital tool that provides personalised debt support to help people achieve debt freedom faster – said “The Poverty Prevention Challenge has been a great experience for SuperFi. The opportunity to collaborate with the GLA team and London councils, as well as receiving additional funding, has enabled us to better understand the needs of our partners and accelerate our launch plans.”
Phase 1
During Phase 1 of The Poverty Prevention Challenge, the innovators were given support in design thinking, technology & digital skills, service design, business modelling, theory of change, and pitching. They were encouraged to create small-scale prototypes of their solutions alongside weekly workshops to help develop their business models and propositions.
Phase 2
Phase 2 aims to work with the 7 innovators to provide them with the necessary tools and techniques to scale their solutions across London.
Allia’s business advisors and experts will work with the founders to help them accelerate their business growth, providing access to resources, and opening up new opportunities through building relationships with impact stakeholders.
Poverty Prevention Community Collaboration
On the 17th October 2023, innovators will come together for the ‘Poverty Prevention Community Collaboration’ – a forum that shares how stakeholders are working to tackle poverty, exploring how they engage with communities and service providers to address challenges such as financial difficulty, homelessness, food insecurity, health and well-being, social inclusion, and access.
This collaboration event is designed to engage stakeholders with the 7 Innovators in the Mayor of London’s Challenge in order to bridge the gap between innovation and implementation. Our 7 innovators want to hear from, learn with, and speak to those implementing policy and solutions to address poverty across London and beyond.
Challenge LDN has helped dozens of startups and small businesses. It has invested more than £2.5m in supporting them to scale up across the city, providing access to seed funding and opportunities to develop new products and services and create jobs. The “Poverty Prevention Challenge” is the latest in more than 20 challenges set since 2018.
Click here to find out more about The Mayor’s Challenge LDN Programme, or email hello@alliaimpact.co.uk
