A Cambridgeshire-based entrepreneur and their business have been awarded £10,000 to support future growth plans and ambitions.

Sol Escobar and her business Give Your Best have been given the grant funding by the entrepreneurship charity Hatch Enterprise in partnership with NatWest. Give Your Best is one of 10 businesses across the UK to receive a share of the £100,000 grant funding round in celebration of Hatch’s 10th anniversary.

Give Your Best is an award-winning 'tech for good' social enterprise offering the first circular platform of its kind where people and brands donate clothes online, so communities living in clothing poverty can shop for free with the agency and dignity they deserve. It is turning donating into gifting.

Its catalogue of gifted women's and children's clothes can be 'shopped' for free by people in the UK who are refugees seeking asylum, victims of trafficking and those who may be destitute with no recourse to public funds.

Sol Escobar, founder of Give Your Best said:

“This grant will further our mission to tackle clothing waste and poverty by supporting the expansion of our Business Besties partnership programme, particularly through our Bestie Bins initiative. These clothing donation collection boxes can be hired by businesses and brands to promote circularity and ethical donation practices both in-house and in-store for their staff and customers.

“Following a successful pilot run, this grant will enable the nationwide rollout of the programme. We are excited about the positive impact this will have on our organisation and the community we support who will be able to shop the donated clothes online for free.”

The grants have been set up to enable business founders from diverse backgrounds to overcome barriers to growth typically faced by these groups in the start-up sector.

Applications in this round were open to graduates of Hatch programmes, targeting support at underrepresented founders. Of the awardees, nine were female founders, three were from an ethnic minority background and five were disabled. Nine out of the 10 grants were awarded to founders based outside of London.

Rebekah Capon, Managing Director at Hatch Enterprise, said:

“Our mission at Hatch is to build a better world through entrepreneurship, supporting those typically underrepresented in the sector to launch and grow sustainable, successful businesses. Access to funding is a huge barrier to growth for any business, and even more so for historically marginalised communities. 

“This partnership with NatWest is the perfect way for us to mark our tenth year as a charity, and we’re so pleased for the ten incredible founders awarded funding. Receiving these grants of £10,000 will make a real difference to the founders themselves, their businesses, and their wider communities.”

As the biggest bank for start-ups in Great Britai, NatWest provided funding for the grants and has been a longstanding supporter of Hatch, donating £1 million pounds to the charity last year to accelerate its work. NatWest also sponsors Hatch’s Launchpad and Incubator programmes, helping entrepreneurs to develop the knowledge, skills, confidence and network needed to launch and grow their business.

James Holian, Head of Business Banking at NatWest, said:

“At NatWest we believe no matter who you are or where you come from, with the right support, entrepreneurs from any background can succeed in business. Our research shows that breaking down barriers to entrepreneurship will not only make the UK fairer, but also stimulate growth of the wider UK economy.”