insights
A secondment from our Connect partners Hogan Lovells
A secondment from our Connect partners Hogan Lovells
Written by
Anny Ma
Communications Officer
Our UnLtd Connect programme helps social entrepreneurs gain mentoring and pro-bono support from brilliant minds across the UK. Law firm Hogan Lovells and their Business and Social Enterprise team (BaSE) have been a champion of this programme, offering countless hours of pro-bono legal advice to our social entrepreneurs for over a decade, alongside support to UnLtd.
In 2020, Hogan Lovells BaSE social enterprise associate Harry Wright joined UnLtd on secondment. His expertise and commitment to social entrepreneurs was invaluable to our Investment & Delivery team - we are so grateful for the partnership with Hogan Lovell’s BaSE for their ongoing support of us and social entrepreneurs.
Harry reflected on his secondment as a Portfolio Manager in this blog post on the Hogan Lovells’ BaSE website, as he worked with us through COVID-19.
He worked within the Investment Team, who facilitate two social funds: The Impact Fund (a blended loan and grant finance package of £50,000 - £150,000 to social enterprises who are improving access to employment) and the Thrive Fund (which provides flexible finance of up to £50K (debt of equity).
Harry shared how: “This consisted of working intensively with over 20 social enterprises, holding regular calls/meetings with them to identify their core business needs, and working with them one-to-one to provide any support they required, including legal advice, digital marketing support, financial management and impact measurement.
Harry joined the team at a time when UnLtd was rapidly responding to COVID-19, while the social entrepreneurs in the portfolio were losing corporate contracts and trading income through office closures and lockdown restrictions.
In his blog, he shares his experience working on the Social Enterprise Support Fund (SESF), and working as a grant assessor of applications too, and noted his learnings from the commitments made to inclusion and equity:
“It was especially inspiring to see how the SESF Fund was dedicated to inclusion, with UnLtd committing 50% of the grants to Black, Asian, minority ethnic and/or disabled social enterprises. Moreover, each decision-making panel (made up of three people) at UnLtd had at least two people who are Black, Asian, and minority ethnic, disabled or LGBTQ+. The research on COVID-19 has shown that the UK’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are disproportionally impacted by health inequalities, and that the social and economic effects are hitting them harder too.”
The secondment HL BaSE offered created immeasurable impact for our organisation in a time where our support for social entrepreneurs was in such high demand.
David Bartram, Director of Investment and Delivery reflects:
“We have a long-lasting relationship with Hogan Lovells, which was built on when Harry Wright joined the UnLtd investment team on a 4-month secondment. In what was an incredibly challenging and uncertain time, the additional support and expertise Harry brought to the team had a lasting impact on the individuals and their ventures. By providing them with hands on advice, support, and guidance in an extremely complex and uncertain economic environment and funding landscape, Harry made significant impact to social entrepreneurs and UnLtd alike.”
Mathu Jeyaloganathan, Head of Investment echoes David’s sentiments of Hogan Lovells and Harry:
“Harry was a key part of the team that distributed £1.28M in coronavirus emergency funding to UnLtd’s Investment Fund portfolio of 35 ventures. He worked closely with these ventures to help navigate pivoting business models, digital marketing strategies, and key governance and impact challenges that contributed to their resilience throughout a tumultuous year.
This new way of working with our partner provided critical legal advice and enabled us to secure key support. I cannot overstate how valuable the Hogan Lovells secondment was, in a way that was highly timely and impactful for our social entrepreneurs.”
Learn more about the work of Hogan Lovells BaSE here: https://www.hoganlovellsbase.com/
If you or your organisation would like to explore how you can use your skills, expertise and influence in service of social entrepreneurs and impact, please reach out to our Connect team and we will arrange a conversation with you. Areas of expertise that are in particular demand right now include: branding, online sales and digital marketing. Email: [email protected]
UnLtd Connect is our community of business professionals and corporate partners brought together to provide social entrepreneurs access to the expertise and networks they tell us they need to achieve their potential. Through UnLtd Connect we connect social entrepreneurs with industry experts and business leaders who can help them tackle the barriers they face when starting or growing their ventures.