We chat with Purple Shoots to find out how the Incubator Competition has opened new opportunities.
Purple Shoots provide business advice and small, ethical loans to help individuals to start businesses. They also set up and facilitate self-reliant groups, where individuals share skills, set up savings, and take positive steps forward.
Back in 2022, the organisation were joint winners of the Cinnamon Incubator Competition.
Founder Karen Davies gives an overview of how the organisation has developed with support from the Cinnamon Incubator Programme.
How have you grown in the past 12 months?
There have been two particular achievements. One is the opening of Purple Shoots Yorkshire in Sheffield, which has taken us to another level.
The second has been the mushrooming in demand for our self-reliant groups, and in particular the growing numbers of churches wanting to partner with us.
What are the major benefits of the Cinnamon Incubator Programme?
We have gained some great new connections with other small charities around the UK.
Being linked to Cinnamon gives us credibility when we are seeking to work with churches or Christian bodies.
What impact has the Incubator Programme had?
So far it has changed some of our thinking and the way we have planned and presented ourselves to potential partner churches.
It has helped us to take more of an outsider’s view, which I hope has meant that our offering is clearer and easier for churches to engage with.
It has also helped me to root it more firmly in my faith – to see it as something God is doing which has lifted the burden and focus away from myself to some extent.
What are your plans for the next 12 months?
To continue to build partnerships with more churches so that more and more self-reliant groups can be created and supported and churches can catch the vision and take it on board.
We also want to start building connections and groups in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire from our new base in Sheffield, and to build on our new partnership with Church Action on Poverty in Manchester.
Since winning the Incubator Final Purple Shoots have:
- Opened a new centre for Yorkshire in Sheffield
- Been inundated with requests for partnerships
- Developed a partnership with Church Action on Poverty in Manchester
CLICK HERE to find out more about this year’s Cinnamon Incubator Competition and how you can apply.
