Date

19th April 2007

Venue

HMP Wandsworth
Heathfield Road
Wandsworth
London
SW18 3HS

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Startup’s fourth Prisoner Entrepreneurship Day was held at HMP Ford on January 25th, 2006. The Governor, Fiona Radford, opened the event and her team at Ford ensured all ran smoothly. The judging panel included representatives from Foursome Investments, mentor David Sinclair, from the Financial Ombudsman, and the sponsor of the day, Lloyds TSB. We were also very pleased to have Ian Kirk as an observer for the day and representative of the Royal London Society.

Presentations were heard from eleven ex-offenders and prisoners from HMPs Ford, Leyhill, Standford Hill and Swaleside. All agreed that the standard of presentations was very high and Startup has been pleased to be able to offer ongoing support, including a mentor and a grant, to at least eight of the presenters, which brings the total Startup funded projects to 25. Mentors have been allocated to a further two presenters to develop their business plans.

The successful presentations included the following new businesses:

• Fitness training
• Home decorating and maintenance
• Gardening service with wormery
• Corgi registered gas installer and plumber
• VW camper van parts supplier
• Tax advisory service.

Startup, a joint venture between the Royal London Society and Foursome Investments, a venture capital company, offers ex-offenders the chance of becoming self employed on release from prison. Of the 80,000 prisoners released last year, it is estimated that two thirds will be back in prison within two years.

Juliet Hope, CEO of Startup (3) says, “For every 10 prisoners released, around six will be back in prison in two years. By giving employment to ex-offenders we could halve that figure. The economic case for doing this is obvious (4) but the human one is just as important. Prison sentences damage individuals, families and especially children.”

Startup works with HMP management to identify prisoners with good business ideas and offers funding in the form of grants and loans as well as the support of a mentor on their release. Juliet Hope adds, “Many prisoners are highly entrepreneurial, creative and passionate. Their energy has just been applied in the wrong direction.”

Startup is now funding four of the former prisoners who presented their business plans at HMP Brixton in January. Funded projects include a garden design business in Tunbridge Wells, a painting a decorating business in Devon and a web-site design business in North London.

The new venture is being welcomed by an increasing number of prisons in the South East and has the support of the former Chief Inspector of Prisons, Lord David Ramsbotham (5) who is to attend the event at HMP Brixton. The judging panel who will evaluate the ideas and provide live feedback are volunteers from a wide range of organisations.

Notes

(1) Royal London Society
A long established Charity that has been working in the area of ex-offender support for more than 200 years. The organisation focuses on providing grants to help cover some of the initial costs in setting up a business.

Foursome Investments

An international venture capital company that invests in socially responsible start-ups. Their contribution focuses on providing long-term loans to help provide initial working capital for the new businesses.

(2) Source: Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners Report by the Social Exclusion Unit, July 2002.

(3) Juliet Hope was a fund manager at Rothschild Asset Management for 12 years, based in Asia and later in London where she was Head of Business Development for Emerging Markets.

(4) A report published by the Social Exclusion Unit in July 2002 states that the financial cost of re-offending to be ‘staggering and widely felt’ and estimates that recorded crime alone committed by ex-prisoners to total at least £11 billion per annum.

“The average cost of a prison sentence imposed at a crown court is roughly £30,500, made up of court and other legal costs. The costs of actually keeping prisoners within prison vary significantly, but average £37,500 per year.” This excludes the indirect costs involved which can include childcare costs of children taken into care, housing on release and unemployment benefits and administration.

(5) Lord David Ramsbotham was Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons from 1995-2001 and is author of Prison-Gate, published in 1993 by Simon and Schuster UK Ltd.