- April 16th: VPF Invests in Training for Life Expansion
The Venture Partnership Foundation today announced the completion of an innovative convertible financing investment to assist the further growth of Training for Life, a registered charity who reintegrate the long term unemployed into the workforce through entrepreneurial endeavour.
Training for Life are best known for their ground breaking work with the Hoxton Apprentice Restaurant in London. CEO Gordon da Silva – twice awarded E&Y Social Entrepreneur of the Year (London) commented: "we have enjoyed working with VPF for two years in their charitable grant-making capacity. This pioneering new investment strategy has potential to further assist social enterprises with their expansion plans whilst offering investors the prospect of achieving a combination of social returns and investment recovery or return. We challenged their organisation to design something that would help us and their unique combination of venture financing and charity sector skills meant that they were able to deliver. We encourage investors to show interest in this new VPF asset class as a compliment to their charitable contributions.".
The VPF investment comes as Training for Life opens its Darmouth Apprentice Restaurant and expands its activities with additional training contracts. Charles Bleehen, a VPF Trustee commented: "Training For Life continues to lead in the field of social enterprise and we are delighted to support them in their next phase of growth."
Training for Life is a charity that seeks to tackle the enduring issue of unemployment and poverty through an entrepreneurial approach. We work with the most vulnerable and excluded groups within society; people from diverse backgrounds, who, for a variety of reasons, have faced barriers to work and consequently have become trapped in poverty.