About Capital Enterprise
Capital Enterprise are London’s start-up experts, connecting and energising a world-class entrepreneurship ecosystem. We are a body of connectors, influencers, investors and policy-makers, collaborating to super-charge London’s start-up scene. We exist to support entrepreneurs and businesses in London. We are mission-driven and a not-for profit organisation owned by, and run for the benefit of, members.
Capital Enterprise and its members provide a wide range of support services including advice, training, mentoring, accelerator programmes, specialist technical expertise, networking, soft loan finance and incubator accommodation to both prestart and trading entrepreneurs and small businesses in all 33 London Boroughs.
Capital Enterprise is funded through members subscriptions, third party sponsorship and by income received from public/private sector partners to develop, pilot and manage innovative programmes that support enterprises and entrepreneurs in London.
About OneTech
OneTech is all about connecting under represented communities with tech entrepreneurship opportunities. Since we originally conceived OneTech in 2017/2018 we have:
- Launched in October 2018 with funding from J.P.Morgan and in partnership with 5 delivery organisations – Diversity VC, Loughborough University in London, TechNation, The Accelerator Network and YSYS
- Expanded provision to reach more of London’s young and underserved communities and engage 2 further delivery organisations – FounderVine and UKBlackTech – and with support from the Mayor of London’s Digital Talent Programme and the South London Innovation Corridor
- Partnered with WeWork to provide free workspace to 100 female founders and 20 young founders
- Increased female founders in Capital Enterprise programmes by over 475% and BAME founders by over 233% (with Black Founders increasing by more than 600%)
- Engaged thousands of people through social media and our linked communities and events
- Recruited more than 250 people from under-represented communities (of which 51% are women and 61% are people of colour)
- Supported these to raise £10m and create 102 jobs (as of October 2019)
- Delivered Diversity Action Plans to 10 Accelerators and Diversity and Inclusion training to 20 senior tech leaders
- Published – with Diversity VC the ‘Venturing into Diversity and Inclusion’ report and started work on a diversity standard for VC’s
- Highlighted the importance of diversity in tech with government through a series of high-level round tables
- Shared the powerful stories of 13 OneTech Founders to inspire others.
& there is so much more to do. We are keen to explore how we can use these foundations to create a sustainable movement of change.
This is why we now want to recruit an Advisory Group to help take us to the next stage.
Terms of reference for OneTech Advisory Group
Purpose / role of the group:
- To support the development of & then hold the team accountable to a OneTech code of conduct and values
- To provide objective oversight, strategic advice and support (e.g. on community engagement, fund raising, future direction)
- To act as a conduit for dialogue and exchange with Capital Enterprise’s Board and Executive Team
- To act as a critical friend e.g. checking and challenging the OneTech team to ensure that they regularly define and then meet strategic goals
- An external voice to support strategic decision making
Membership:
- 2 members of the OneTech team plus others to be invited as observers as appropriate
- A further 4-5 external people
- 3 out of 5 of these from under represented communities (women, people of colour, disabled, LGBTQ+, people with neuro diverse conditions, older people, young people)
- Balance of people from public / private / voluntary sector
- Representation of all the different stakeholders in the tech ecosystem (e.g investors, intermediaries, government, providers
- Where possible, 1-2 people from Capital Enterprise’s Board
- Where a member is a OneTech delivery partner, the individual on the advisory group should not be the contract holder (to avoid issues associated with potential conflicts of interest)
- Membership for 24 months with 3 people to continue and 2 to be refreshed annually thereafter
- Membership can be renewed once – i.e. no one serves for more than 4 years
Accountability:
- OneTech MD prepares quarterly report for Advisory Group
- Advisory Group reports into CE Board on a quarterly basis through OneTech MD and CE Board Members which are part of OneTech Advisory Group
Review:
- 24 monthly review of relevance and value of its work and the terms of reference
Working methods / ways of working:
- Quarterly meetings to be organised by 1T MD & team
- Rotating chair & venue
- Annual away day
- Agenda and papers to be circulated at least 1 week prior to each meeting
- Standing agenda:
-
- Review of activities
- Partners
- Community
- Staff happiness
- Performance metrics
- Challenges
- Blockers
- Forward thinking
- Action points to be circulated no more than 2 weeks after each meeting
- Task & finish groups to be added if required
- Up to 2 non-members can be invited to group meetings where necessary e.g. to fill gaps / contribute learning and insight
Sharing of information and resources (including confidential materials)
- Google Drive folder – no email attachments – pdf, password protected
- If appropriate a Slack Channel
Expressions of interest
If you are interested in being part of this group, please send your expression of interest to Alison Partridge (alison@capitalenterprise.org) and:
- Tell us about yourself and why you are interested in being part of our Advisory Group
- Attach your CV and/or link us to a LinkedIn profile or online portfolio.
Feel free to put your own stamp on how you send your expression of interest – we are happy to receive these in any accessible format!
The closing date for expressions of interest is Friday 17 January although we will be contacting people who apply on a rolling basis to discuss the role further. We expect the first meeting to be in early March 2020.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with any member of the OneTech team if you would like an informal chat about the group.
