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Open Business Creators Fund for Women in Business

Open Business Creators Fund for Women in Business
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  • 8 hours study
  • Level 3: Advanced

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    • *Notice - This opportunity has now closed to further applications.

      Welcome to the Open Business Creators Fund for Women in Business sponsored by NatWest.

      Have you got a great business idea but need a little support? Perhaps you have recently started a business and could benefit from creating a portfolio and receiving some funding to grow? The Open University is reopening its Open Business Creators Fund in October 2025 with £50k sponsorship from NatWest to support ideas and early-stage businesses founded by women.

          

      Transcript

      Welcome to the Open Business Creators Fund! Where all women in the UK have the ability to apply for funding up to £2500.

      You’ll learn about the fundamentals of starting a new business while also building a portfolio to apply for funding. A few key points to note when building your portfolio. Be passionate about the project. Make sure your audience who are reading your portfolio know about your business, know about your backstory, know about why this business is so important and why this business will succeed and how it will benefit from this funding.

      Mark your calendars! The submission deadline is 21st November and I wish you all the best of luck.

       

      This opportunity is open to women in the UK at the idea or early stage of starting a business. It is designed to build your confidence, capabilities, and connections, to help you need succeed. We will award individual grants of up to £2,500. These funds form part of a support and workshop package for new business creators as they start their entrepreneurial journey. 

      To find the most promising ideas and businesses, we are asking you to use the Validate platform – a tool that helps you clearly explain your business idea, whilst learning some of the fundamentals of business, and create a portfolio submission to apply for funding. 

      How to enter 

      The deadline to enter is Friday 21 November 2025. By this date you need to create your portfolio in Validate and upload it to this site after completing the entry form. Validate (a tool paid for by The Open University) will walk you through business ideas (identifying problems and opportunities), business modelling (scoping out key partners, activities and propositions) and generating your polished business portfolio – so every entrant will benefit from the use of the Validate software.

      A panel of judges will review the portfolios and provide feedback to each entrant, giving advice on considerations to make to create a more sustainable business or idea. Successful grant recipients will be announced by 19 December 2025.

      The Open Business Creators Fund is open to both commercial and social enterprise ideas. The fund aims to help nurture your ideas and support entrepreneurs who are committed to taking the next steps with their business.

       What to do next

      1. You must log-in and enrol on this site via the link below so that you receive a link to Validate (check your junk mail just in case it goes there!) and are able to access the entry form. 

      2. You will need to work on your business idea in the Validate platform and complete your portfolio for review by our judges panel.  When you are ready, you will export the link to your portfolio for submission.

      3. To apply for funding, you will need to complete the Open Business Creators entry form and submit the link to your Validate portfolio. The deadline for entries will be midnight on Friday 21 November 2025. 

      Where to find help

      Open Business Creators are also hosting a 3-part webinar series across October and November, where we will be engaging a group of inspirational women who are changing the world around them. To get the webinar links, please sign up using the links below. 

      Webinar 1: Confidence - Tuesday, 21 October | View the recording

      Webinar 2: Capabilities - Wednesday, 5 November (12:00 - 13:00) | View the recording

      Webinar 3: Connections - Tuesday 18 November (19:00 - 20:00) | View the recording

      You can find more supporting resources, our terms and conditions and the entry form by visiting the "Competition content" tab at the top of this page.

      This funding opportunity is open to women. Participants are eligible to apply for funding if they reside in the UK and are over 16 on 21/11/2025. Existing businesses must have been registered for less than one year on 21/11/2025. Employees of The Open University and NatWest Group employees and their families are not eligible to enter. If you have questions or need materials in other formats, please reach out to us at Open-Business-Creators@open.ac.uk.

      You're also welcome to share feedback via our form

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  • This competition is part of a collection

    This competition is part of a collection

    This competition is part of a collection of competitions called Open Business Creators. There are 4 competitions in this collection so you may find other competitions here that maybe of interest to you.

    See this collection

  • Competition learning outcomes

     

    The goals of this opportunity are:

    • To provide individuals with the knowledge and resources they need to start their own businesses.
    • To boost confidence among participants, enabling them to pursue their entrepreneurial ideas.
    • To connect participants with additional business support resources and networks.
    • To enable participants to present their business idea to a panel of judges (potential investors).

     

     

    View this competition now

    • Course dates:

    First Published 25/09/2025.

    Updated 09/10/2025

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About this competition

  • 8 hours study
  • Level 3: Advanced

Sign up to get more

You can start learning at any time. By signing up and enrolling you can track your progress and earn a Statement of Participation upon completion, all for free.

View this competition

Sign up to get more
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ExpandCopyright information

For further information, take a look at our frequently asked questions which may give you the support you need.

Have a question?

If you have any concerns about anything on this site please get in contact with us here.

Report a concern

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Confidence. Connections. Capabilities.

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