.png)
Criteria
Businesses registered in the UK, with less than £2 million annual turnover, under 10 employees & under 5 years in operation
Individuals from minority ethnic communities, women and gender-diverse people and entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities across the UK.
Start Date: Jan 2025
Location: United Kingdom
.jpeg)
3-month entrepreneurship training
INCO Elevate UK
Elevating UK's underrepresented founders
Are you ready to take your entrepreneurial skills to the next level?
We’re bringing together INCO’s network of leading experts to boost the growth of underrepresented founders in the UK with our tailored approach to supporting entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.
Our Approach
Through our small sized cohort and bespoke needs assessment at the start of the program, we will provide you with the tools, resources, and mentorship needed to level up your entrepreneurship skills. We know you’re busy, so we’ll keep the time commitment to 2-3 hours a week and will focus on the following key areas.
Business Expertise
We’ll host interactive workshops on key topics such as impact models, marketing, finance, and business planning to make sure you’ve got solid foundations to scale.
Mentoring and Community
Thanks to our partner BNY, we’ll provide opportunities for 1-1 mentoring, peer mentoring, and connections to our amazing INCO alumni community.
Leadership
We’ll provide practical frameworks and support you to supercharge your team management and leadership skills.
Why INCO?
INCO is a world-leading social enterprise creating a more inclusive and environmentally sustainable economy by supporting the workforce and business leaders of tomorrow. We’ve worked in over 140 countries and supported over 8,000 businesses through our bespoke approach to coaching, mentoring, and community building.
What this means is, we’ve got your back!
The INCO Accelerator has provided invaluable insights and support, especially through its tailored sessions that directly aligned with our goals.
INCO Europe Participant
_edited_edited.png)
Compared to other programs I've participated in, INCO stands out for its hands-on approach and personalized support, making it a unique and valuable experience.
INCO Europe Participant
The network we’ve built through this experience is invaluable and has opened doors to incredible opportunities for collaboration and growth.
INCO Europe Participant
Why people choose INCO Academy for their career
What makes INCO Academy stand out from other organisations is its transparency, inclusion, and diversity. The fact that it is fully funded made it possible for me to develop my skills and knowledge in tech.
Mayowa
To provide a stable future for my son, I considered reskilling and chose to pursue a career in IT. Joining a training program at INCO Academy gave me a supportive community of like-minded women. This significantly boosts confidence and unveils potential.
Anastasiia
Application Process
Stage 1:
Written Application
If you meet our criteria, complete the application form.
Stage 2:
Application Review
We’ll objectively score and rank all shortlisted applications based on the details you provide in the application form.
Stage 3:
Interview
Selected shortlisted applicants will have a 10-15 minute online interview.
Stage 4:
Final Selection
Shortlisted applicants from stage 3 will be sent an invitation to join the program.
FAQs
Thanks to our partners at BNY, this program is completely free. And they’ll even throw in 1-1 mentoring with their internal experts who are passionate about supporting businesses to thrive.
The program is 3 months long and will require approximately 2-3 hours a week. You’ll have workshops, peer sessions, and other activities to participate in.
Yes, absolutely. The program is designed with busy entrepreneurs in mind, whether you're working on your company full-time or have other commitments. We provide a flexible schedule and advance timetables to help you carve out time for the program around your existing responsibilities. In the application form, we’ll ask what time of day suits best for the online sessions so we can make the format work for as many of the participants as possible.
No, you don’t have to be full-time. But you will need to ensure that you have enough time to take part in the activities and workshops.
The deadline to apply is Friday, November 15th, 23:59 (GMT).
Yes, you need to be registered in the UK to join this program.
Yes, we will run one more cohort, with applications opening in March 2025.
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply as early as possible. You should hear back from us within a few weeks after the application submission.
Yes, as long as they’re co-founders with leadership roles and meet our overall criteria.
This program is designed to support underrepresented entrepreneurs in business from three focus areas; ethnic background, gender, and socioeconomic status. We acknowledge that this does not cover all underrepresented communities in business, however, this is the specific scope of INCO Elevate UK.
The program is fully online, meaning you can gain the benefits and learnings from anywhere in the UK. We will be using video conferencing tools to deliver the program.