Simply Business announces three year partnership with leading youth charity, The Prince's Trust

Simply Business announces three year partnership with leading youth charity, The Prince's Trust

• New partnership with The Prince’s Trust comes as the cost living crisis continues to impact the UK
• Three year partnership will see Simply Business build on existing commitment to empower the next generation of young, diverse small business owners, and fundraising to support The Prince’s Trust to continue delivering their Enterprise Programme
• In the past three years Simply Business has raised over £450,000 for Mind to help fund vital mental health support

Simply Business, one of the UK’s largest providers of small business insurance, has announced a three year charity partnership with The Prince’s Trust, a youth charity supporting young people who are facing disadvantage and adversity by helping them to build the confidence and skills to live, learn and earn.

Funds raised from partnership will enable The Prince’s Trust to continue to deliver its Enterprise Programme, which offers support and funding to help young people aged 18-30 explore their business ideas so that they can start their own business with the help of Prince’s Trust staff and volunteer business mentors. Over half of 18-30 year olds dream of starting their own business, but 70% say they don’t know where to start. As the undisputed champions for small business, we are hoping to change that.

Inclusive Entrepreneurship with The Prince’s Trust

• There is a clear gap between young people’s entrepreneurial ambitions and their action to enter self-employment or run their own business.
• Working with The Prince’s Trust is a chance for Simply Business to empower the next generation of small business owners by actively supporting those who face the most barriers to success, especially young entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds.
• The Prince’s Trust Young Entrepreneurship Review identified three key barriers that contribute to this gap: access to finance and support; confidence and expectation; and networks. 
• A three-year partnership with The Prince’s Trust will help us connect the next generation of young small business owners with the skills, funding, and mentorship they need to be successful.
• This is an exciting new chapter in our social impact story of being a champion for underserved people and communities, and will help us achieve our greater ambition of creating a more inclusive and resilient small business community.

The new non-profit partner was chosen by Simply Business employees, and to mark the partnership they’re kicking off with a 10,000 step challenge throughout the month of February. For the last three years Simply Business was partnered with Mind, a leading mental health charity, raising over £450,000. Previously Simply Business was partnered with Whizz-Kidz in 2018 to 2021, a charity for disabled children, and achieved over 500 volunteering hours and raised over £340,000. Simply Business are proud to be a certified B Corp since 2017, becoming one of the first insurance companies to achieve this.

The new partnership with The Prince’s Trust comes as Simply Business continues efforts to support SMEs as the cost of living crisis continues to impact the UK. In 2020, Simply Business launched its first Business Boost grant in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. For the past four years Simply Business has continued to give away a £25,000 cash injection to a small business each year, and to date has seen over 75,000 applications and has awarded over £85,000 in cash grants.

Alan Thomas, UK CEO at Simply Business, comments: “At Simply Business, we’re passionate about creating a more inclusive and resilient small business community by supporting underserved people and communities, and are delighted to announce our new charity partnership with The Prince’s Trust, one the UK's leading youth charities.

“It’s never been more important to support young people, with the impact of the cost-of-living crisis making it a difficult environment for new and existing young entrepreneurs.

“Our new partnership with The Prince’s Trust demonstrates our ongoing commitment to support young people and make these support services more accessible to greater numbers of small business owners and self-employed workers as they seek to navigate these challenging times. We are delighted to support The Prince’s Trust in inspiring positivity and belief so young people know that they can achieve their ambitions.”

Sophie Morrell, Director of Corporate Partnerships at The Prince's Trust said: "We're delighted that Simply Business have chosen us as their new non-profit partner. Their ambition of creating a more inclusive and resilient small business community resonates with our mission to support young people wanting to explore self-employment. We are thankful for their commitment to provide the best possible support for young people wanting to start their own business, and are excited about our collaboration to foster the next generation of small business owners."

-Ends-

Media enquiries:
For any media enquiries please contact [email protected]