Funding Boost Will Help More Churches Give Out-of-work People Hope Through Business

Churches will be able to reach more out-of-work people to help them become entrepreneurs after a unique project secured a funding boost.

NAYBA, which helps churches and entrepreneurs transform communities, has been awarded a grant from Benefact Trust.

As a result of its Spirit of Enterprise initiative, the international organisation enables churches in the UK to help people set up their own businesses.

People who are without work and looking at setting up their own business can access mentors through churches running NAYBA’s Enterprise Hubs.

Each Enterprise Hub runs the Enterprise Course to introduce budding entrepreneurs to advisers who help steer them through the steps needed to launch a business. The Hubs also offer co-working spaces that allow people with the God-given gift of enterprise to connect with others.

With the Benefact Trust grant, NAYBA will be able to help more churches in the UK establish Enterprise Hubs and set up an infrastructure to expand the initiative into Europe.

NAYBA Enterprise Catalyst, Geoff Baxter, said: 

Thanks to this grant from Benefact Trust, we will be able to take measures and invest in our Spirit of Enterprise initiative, helping us set bold targets.

We believe Enterprise is a core part of the local Church’s offer and therefore is a core part of NAYBA. We have been developing an innovative and simple measure of impact based on outcome rather than just output measurement.

Our three-year target is to support 250 churches in areas of deprivation to deliver 100 enterprise courses each year. From this, we want to support the launch of 200 new enterprises each year across the UK.

In the next three years, we want to have engaged 2,500 individuals through the connect sessions and course, having supported 400 individuals in launching their new enterprises. To do this we aim to engage and equip 400 business mentors within those churches to give local support.

Benefact Trust exists to make a positive difference to people’s lives by funding, guiding, and celebrating the work of churches and Christian charities. It helps organisations empower the most vulnerable and gives people, communities and places a renewed opportunity to flourish.

Andrew Bass, Grants Officer for Benefact Trust, said: 

Our grants are designed to have a positive impact on the wider community, tackling social issues from homelessness and poverty, to mental health, to climate change and cultural cohesion.

We’re delighted to support the expansion of NAYBA’s Enterprise Hubs, which will give unemployed people the opportunity to gain skills, experience, and the confidence to make it on their own. This is extremely timely as more people face the challenges of the Cost of Living Crisis.

Geoff Baxter added: 

We are delighted that Benefact Trust has chosen to help fund NAYBA’s Spirit of Enterprise and that its financial backing will have a positive impact on tackling poverty.

Written by: Alice Morris