Supporting communities into entrepreneurship: Jiselle Steele
Supporting communities into entrepreneurship: Jiselle Steele
Author
Introduction
Not all communities in the UK have equal access to jobs, skills and opportunity. The Runnymede Trust has shown how economic inequality affects different racial groups while the 2019 Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship revealed that half as many women start businesses as men, and female-led businesses receive less funding than male-led ones at every stage.
"My Fellowship has been transformative in terms of my personal and professional development." - Jiselle Steele, Fellow
Entrepreneur Jiselle Steele (CF 2014) is working to tackle some of these inequalities through providing access and opportunity for under-represented communities to entrepreneurship, through training and mentoring programmes. Her Fellowship to Brazil led Jiselle to work in the country for several years as Regional Programme Director for UK-based social enterprise, _Social Starters, using the contacts she had made on her Fellowship. Whilst there, she led the launch of a new programme to connect professionals from around the world with young social entrepreneurs in Rio de Janeiro. Alongside this, she helped run a new Social Impact Incubator to support 50 Brazilian female social entrepreneurs to develop their businesses.
On her return to the UK, Jiselle was inspired by her work in Brazil to help increase diversity in the UK social enterprise sector. In 2020, she was awarded one of our Covid-19 Action Fund grants to create an enterprise support programme for female social entrepreneurs from under-represented racial groups. The programme will offer training, mentoring and an online toolkit with guidance on overcoming business challenges and accessing investment. Additionally, Jiselle is working with the _Social Starters team to create a network of female social entrepreneurs from under-represented racial groups who are tackling structural inequalities in society through their work, to share learnings at online events and to lobby for systemic change.
Jiselle’s Fellowship explored enterprise as a catalyst for social mobility amongst disadvantaged young people in Brazil.
She says, “My Fellowship has been transformative in terms of my personal and professional development. Working with social enterprises led by purpose driven leaders of colour in Brazil and the UK has offered a great deal of inspiration for my current project and highlighted the importance of giving greater support to diverse entrepreneurs who are overlooked and face significant discrimination.”
"My Fellowship has been transformative in terms of my personal and professional development." - Jiselle Steele, Fellow
Entrepreneur Jiselle Steele (CF 2014) is working to tackle some of these inequalities through providing access and opportunity for under-represented communities to entrepreneurship, through training and mentoring programmes. Her Fellowship to Brazil led Jiselle to work in the country for several years as Regional Programme Director for UK-based social enterprise, _Social Starters, using the contacts she had made on her Fellowship. Whilst there, she led the launch of a new programme to connect professionals from around the world with young social entrepreneurs in Rio de Janeiro. Alongside this, she helped run a new Social Impact Incubator to support 50 Brazilian female social entrepreneurs to develop their businesses.
On her return to the UK, Jiselle was inspired by her work in Brazil to help increase diversity in the UK social enterprise sector. In 2020, she was awarded one of our Covid-19 Action Fund grants to create an enterprise support programme for female social entrepreneurs from under-represented racial groups. The programme will offer training, mentoring and an online toolkit with guidance on overcoming business challenges and accessing investment. Additionally, Jiselle is working with the _Social Starters team to create a network of female social entrepreneurs from under-represented racial groups who are tackling structural inequalities in society through their work, to share learnings at online events and to lobby for systemic change.
Jiselle’s Fellowship explored enterprise as a catalyst for social mobility amongst disadvantaged young people in Brazil.
She says, “My Fellowship has been transformative in terms of my personal and professional development. Working with social enterprises led by purpose driven leaders of colour in Brazil and the UK has offered a great deal of inspiration for my current project and highlighted the importance of giving greater support to diverse entrepreneurs who are overlooked and face significant discrimination.”