Investing in people. Restoring agency. Rewiring opportunity.
For too long, millions of people have been excluded from enterprise because they don’t fit the traditional mould of a borrower.
They may have experienced redundancy, ill health, caring responsibilities, financial hardship, poor credit histories or long periods of unemployment. Many have the skills, determination and ambition to build a business—but not the access to affordable finance that makes it possible.
At Purple Shoots, we believe financial exclusion should never be the end of someone’s story.
For over 13 years, we’ve supported people who have been overlooked by mainstream finance to build sustainable businesses, create income and regain control over their futures.
We don’t simply lend money.
We invest in people.
Why the Opportunity Fund?
After analysing every loan made under our new lending model since 2024, one conclusion became impossible to ignore.
Financial exclusion is not the same as financial failure.
Our loanbook demonstrates that when people are given affordable finance, practical business support and long-term relationships, they succeed at rates that challenge conventional assumptions about lending risk.
Since introducing our new lending model in 2024, Purple Shoots has:
- Supported 145 entrepreneurs with affordable business loans.
- Invested more than £662,000 into businesses that mainstream finance would often overlook.
- Lent to entrepreneurs disproportionately living in the UK’s most deprived communities, with 51% of borrowers living in the three most deprived IMD deciles.
- Supported people who are often excluded from traditional finance, including those receiving benefits, unemployed or previously declined elsewhere.
The evidence gives us confidence that this model works.
Now we want to make it available to many more people.
Our Vision
The Purple Shoots Opportunity Fund will provide the blended capital needed to scale a lending model that has already demonstrated its impact.
By combining philanthropy, social investment and lending capital, we can support significantly more financially excluded entrepreneurs while building a sustainable revolving fund that continues creating opportunity year after year.
Our ambition is simple:
To ensure that access to finance is no longer the barrier that prevents talented people from building a business.
What £1 Million Makes Possible
Our immediate goal is to establish a £1 million Purple Shoots Opportunity Fund, made up of:
£250,000 – Strengthen Delivery
Expanding our lending capacity, enhancing borrower support and investing in the systems needed to reach more entrepreneurs.
£250,000 – Unlock Investment
Providing a first-loss guarantee that enables additional social investment to flow into the fund with confidence.
£500,000 – Lending Capital
Providing affordable loans to around 113 additional entrepreneurs in the fund’s first year.
Together, we expect this first phase to:
- Support around 113 entrepreneurs
- Return around £2.1 million to HM Treasury through reduced benefit dependency and increased tax revenues
- Generate around £7.1 million of economic value within local communities
- Establish a revolving lending fund that continues supporting entrepreneurs long after the initial investment has been made
Why Purple Shoots?
Our approach is different because we don’t start with credit scores.
We start with people.
We listen. We understand. We believe. We lend. We support. We celebrate success.
For over a decade, this relationship-based approach has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs create businesses, generate income and build more secure futures for themselves and their families.
The Opportunity Fund builds on that experience—and on the evidence that demonstrates it works.
Become a Founding Partner
The Purple Shoots Opportunity Fund is more than a fundraising campaign.
It’s an opportunity to help reshape how the UK supports financially excluded entrepreneurs.
Whether you’re a philanthropist, foundation, corporate partner or impact investor, we’d love to talk about how you could become a founding partner.
Together, we can prove that the issue isn’t capability. It’s access.
