How to enter
About the fund
The Open Business Creators Fund is open to both commercial and social enterprise ideas. We want to help validate your ideas and support those who are serious about taking the next steps with their business. All participants will be given access to Validate, a start-up ideas platform that allows people to ideate, plan, test and share entrepreneurial and innovative ideas.
How to enter
1. Make sure you are enrolled on this site so that you are able to access all information and forms.
2.You will need to work on your business idea in the Validate platform and complete your portfolio for review by our judges panel. In the 'Project Summary' section of your portfolio be sure to include information about where your idea came from, where you are with the business and what you would do with the grant funding if you are selected.
3. When you are ready, export your portfolio to either a Web link, a PDF, or a DocX file, whichever works best for you.
4. Complete the Open Business Creators entry form
5. Upload your Validate Web link, PDF or DocX file to the submission portal (only available once you completed the entry form.)
The deadline for entries will be noon on Friday 25 October 2024.
Support
Please contact us at Open-Business-Creators@open.ac.uk at any point if you have any questions about applying to the Open Business Creators Fund or any feedback about this opportunity.
On Friday, 11 October from 12:30 - 13:30 we will host a webinar with one of our Entrepreneurs in Residence, Ravinder Hoonjan, discussing the workings of an entrepreneurial mind and answering your questions about being entrepreneurial. You can register for the webinar now and join us on the day or view the recording on this page afterwards.
The Workings of an Entrepreneurial Mind
Friday, 11 October 12:30 - 13:30 (UK Time) (view the recording on YouTube)
To prepare a sound business model canvas and for other entrepreneurial skills support we highly recommend you check out some of the resources on the main Open Business Creators page.
On Tuesday, 22 October 13:00 - 14:00 we will have Alison Gee, product manager for Validate and Rob Wilson, lead for Open Business Creators at the Open University on hand to answer any questions you have about using Validate to explore your business idea and applying to the OBC Fund for Disabled Entrepreneurs.
Question and Answer with Validate and the Open Business Creators team
Tuesday, 22 October 13:00 - 14:00 (UK Time) (View the recording on YouTube)
Further Resources
Scope also have these brilliant pages on starting a business.
If your business or idea is a social enterprise, check out Social Shifters for loads of great, supportive content:
Social Shifters - From Passion to Action for Social Change
If you need a demo of Validate, please look at:
Resources - SimVenture Validate
Finally, if you need help developing a fundraising plan, we recommend using Funding Hero. You can access Pillar 1 for free with code: OPENUNI10.
We can keep a secret
If your idea is something that no one else has thought about yet, don’t worry. Details of your business idea will be stored securely and only accessible by the shortlisting panel and judges.