When Ben Taylor came to Purple Shoots, far from just looking to start a business, he was trying to reclaim his future.
Ben has spent years working as a mental health advocate, supporting people in residential units and care settings across the region. Through that work, he saw first-hand how many people were being let down by systems that focused on containment rather than connection. Again and again, the people he supported told him the same thing: there was nowhere to go, nothing meaningful to do, and no space that felt safe without pressure. Traditional support groups didn’t work for everyone, and even well-known models often left people feeling unseen.
At the same time, Ben was dealing with the aftermath of a difficult period in his own life. As a sole earner for many years while caring for his son, he had accumulated debt simply to keep going. Acting on advice at the time, he entered into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) to regain control. He did everything asked of him, making payments, staying compliant and continuing to work. Unfortunately, the IVA became a quiet barrier that followed him everywhere. No matter how strong his idea or how committed he was, mainstream finance wouldn’t touch him.
Yet, Ben had something powerful. Creativity had always been his way of coping through fixing, making, repurposing. Out of that came the idea for MothWing: a social enterprise built around upcycling, house clearances, and creative workshops, offering informal peer support through shared activity rather than forced conversation. It is a business rooted in dignity, sustainability, and lived experience, turning discarded objects into something useful, and offering people who felt discarded a sense of purpose again.
But to make it real, Ben needed help, and the IVA stood in the way.
This is where Purple Shoots did something different.
Rather than viewing the IVA as a red flag, we saw it for what it was: evidence of someone who had taken responsibility during a difficult time and was now trying to move forward. We made the decision to extend Ben a zero-interest loan to allow him to settle his IVA in full. It wasn’t about equipment or stock but was about removing a structural barrier and giving Ben his financial freedom back.
Clearing the IVA changed everything. It released Ben from a contractual obligation that had limited his options and restored his ability to access fair, affordable finance. With that barrier removed, we were then able to provide a further business loan of £3,343.46, allowing him to consolidate an existing high-cost loan and bring everything into one manageable, ethical repayment.
In total, Ben now pays a single, affordable payment that replaces multiple pressures and gives him clarity and stability as he builds his business. Finance that he can use to build something from the ground up.
Ben had this to say about his business and Purple Shoots – “MothWing is about finding beauty in what’s broken, not just in objects, but in people. Purple Shoots saw what I was trying to build and gave me the chance to do it. I’ve never had support like that before. Support that believes in who you are, not just your numbers or your past.”
With this support in place, MothWing is now getting going! Ben has secured an affordable retail and workshop space, built a following through social media and online marketplaces, and joined the eBay Start-Up Scale-Up programme to strengthen his commercial foundations.
More importantly, Ben is building something that reflects who he is and what he believes in. MothWing isn’t just about selling upcycled goods. It’s about creating a space where people can feel useful, capable, and connected. A space where mental health support happens naturally, through doing rather than talking.
