Entrepreneurship Impact Fund – Strand 3: Minority Entrepreneurship Fund

What is the Entrepreneurship Impact Fund Strand 3 – Minority Entrepreneurship Fund? 

The Entrepreneurship Impact Fund 2023-2026 is a three-year fund, supported by a private donor, which aims to have impact across three strands:

 

  • Strand 3: The Minority Entrepreneurship Fund  (launched January 2025)

This open call covers Strand 3, worth a total of €900,000, and is open for applications via the online portal until Friday 21st March 2025 at 1pm.

Ireland faces continuing critical social issues across health, education, equality, and the green transition sectors. One of the key problems confronting social enterprises is the difficulty of scaling their operations and social impact. Insufficient funding in terms of both scale and duration to align with their aspirations, as well as a shortage of suitable capacity-building supports are key barriers.

The Entrepreneurship Impact Fund’s Strand 3 is a unique opportunity for 5 minority-led social enterprises, taking an entrepreneurial approach to social change,  to get support to deliver sustained individual and collective solutions across communities over a three year period and beyond.

The fund will focus on growing and scaling early/mid-stage minority-led social enterprises that have proof of impact, but require additional support to reach the next stage of growth. It will provide multi-year funding and targeted support in the areas of scaling, investment and procurement readiness, organisational resilience, leadership, impact measurement, and financial sustainability.

For the purpose of this fund, the focus will be on supporting social enterprises led by ethnic minorities, migrants and refugees. 

All five Awardees will receive a cash grant of up to €60,000  per annum over the 3 year period and a tailored non-financial supports package*. This will include supports such as strategic planning, communications planning, impact management and fundraising strategy development.

Capacity building supports include:

  • a place on Rethink Ireland’s Capacity Building Programme
  • bespoke business and one-to-one consultancy supports delivered by experts consultants and designed in consultation with the successful projects on topics such as scaling, financial sustainability, investment readiness, organisational resilience, and impact measurement
  • access to Rethink Ireland’s networks

* The Rethink Ireland Board will decide how much money to award, which may be less than the amount requested. The final amount of the award will depend on how many organisations are selected.

You can apply to the Entrepreneurship Impact Fund – Strand 3 via the online portal until Friday 21st March 2025 at 1pm. 

Please join us for one of our application clinics to find out more and answer any questions that you have:

  • Thursday 20th of February 2025 at 11am: Register
  • Wednesday 5th of March 2025 at 2.30pm: Register

For any questions you may have please contact [email protected]

For more information, please visit:

https://rethinkireland.ie/current_fund/entrepreneurship-impact-fund-strand-3/

03/21/2025