Priya O.
Bespoke Tailoring
Now teaches alteration and pattern-cutting at the local college on weekends. Two apprentices.
The most reliable predictor of long-term safety after gender-based violence isn't shelter or therapy alone — it's economic independence. Our flagship programme turns survivors into founders with seed capital, mentorship, training, and on-site childcare.
Twelve months. Five stages. One mission: economic independence on her terms.
Safe-housing, therapy, and basic needs covered first. No business plan happens before safety.
1-on-1 sessions to identify her existing skills, ideas, and the work she wants to build.
12 weeks of evening business school: bookkeeping, marketing, pricing, taxes — designed around childcare schedules.
Up to £8,000 in seed grant — not a loan, never repayable. She owns her business outright from day one.
24 months of mentorship, peer-circle access, and emergency backstop funding so a bad month doesn't end everything.
A grant alone won't outlast a controlling ex, an empty fridge, or a fractured network. So we built the whole stack around it.
A non-repayable grant sized to the business — covering equipment, deposit on premises, initial inventory, registration, and runway.
Bookkeeping, marketing, pricing, supplier negotiation, taxes, and digital tools — taught by working entrepreneurs, in evening sessions with childcare.
Each woman is matched with an experienced founder in her sector. Monthly 1-on-1 sessions, on-call advice, plus a peer circle of 6–8 fellow founders.
Continued access to therapy throughout the programme — at no cost — because building a business while healing is the actual job.
Free legal aid for ongoing protection orders, custody, divorce, and immigration. Plus full support registering the business and opening accounts.
Free childcare during all training sessions, mentorship meetings, and the first six months of trading. No woman has to choose between her business and her kids.
When the shelter took me in, I had a phone with 4% battery and two children. Two years later, I employ four people, my eldest is on a Foundation scholarship, and I sign my own lease. They didn't fix me — they trusted me.
A small sample of the women whose businesses you've helped fund.
Now teaches alteration and pattern-cutting at the local college on weekends. Two apprentices.
Co-founded a cooperative employing 12 women — caring for 80 children across three sites.
A four-language translation business serving local courts, NHS, and immigration solicitors.
Travels to clients in shelters and elder care homes. Trains other survivors as stylists.
If you're a survivor of gender-based violence with an idea, an instinct, or just the courage to start something — apply or have someone refer you. The next cohort opens in eight weeks. No CV. No business plan. Just a conversation.
Start an application