MD2422 Mayor’s Entrepreneur 2020

The first Mayor’s Low Carbon Entrepreneur Project was held in 2012. The key aim of the project then and now is to inspire the next generation of young entrepreneurs to come up with innovative solutions for solving issues facing cities. Previous approvals related to this project over the past 7 years are: DD482 (2012); DD986 (2013); ADD141 (2014); ADD255 (2015); MD1519 (2016 & 2017); MD2138 (2018 & 2019); DD2258 (2019).

The success of the low carbon award which was the only award between 2012 and 2018, indicated potential for the Mayor to recognise and support student entrepreneurship across other areas. Rather than setting up new programmes two new awards were piloted for the 2019 programme, funded by the LEAP. Based on the success of the additional awards and the interest from staff and students at universities an extra award will be added under the existing Mayor’s Entrepreneur programme resulting in four awards for the 2020 round of the competition. The three additional awards will be focussed across the Mayor’s priorities but the day to day running and management of the competition will stay with the Environment Team to ensure there is an environmental thread running through the competition by making sure that the business ideas entered do not add additional carbon to the environment, which differentiates the Mayor’s Entrepreneur competition from others in the market. Past rounds of the competition have shown that the low carbon and technology awards need to be included. In order to make an informed decision about the other two awards, data needs to be gathered from the 2019 awards as well as speaking to students and lecturers. The additional awards will attract a wider range of students from more diverse academic backgrounds. The creation of the additional awards will also:

• Increase the number of new “green” businesses the programme is able to support in London by having four winning ideas per year rather than just one;
• Enable the support of great ideas whose prime focus is not low carbon. In the past strong entries have lost out on that criteria;
• Broaden the student audience of the Environment Team and the wider GLA to reach disciplines that might traditionally engage less with environmental issues and government organisations;
• Confirm London as a global leader in student entrepreneurship/strengthen London HEI’s competitiveness in attracting talented students; and
• Maintain brand strength of the awards by expanding the already existing and successful model rather than creating separate programmes.

It is proposed to continue the project with four awards, as it will further support the Mayor’s ambitious manifesto target to make London a zero-carbon city by 2050. It will also support the manifesto promise to be the most pro-business Mayor yet, working in partnership with industry to deliver on skills, infrastructure, and the growth of the low carbon circular economy through helping London’s students become the next generation of green business entrepreneurs. It aims to achieve this by engaging students and academic staff across London’s higher education establishment on the need to find market-driven solutions to reduce carbon emissions and tackle other environmental issues. The project encourages students and recent graduates to enter their business ideas for the opportunity of winning one of four £20,000 prizes to bring their ideas to market. This also allows engagement with these groups on the work of the GLA. The competition is open to all undergraduates, postgraduates (taught and research) and research PhD students in London and is judged by an expert, respected and high-profile panel of judges.

The Mayor’s Fund for London will employ 28 paid interns who will assist the delivery team at City Hall to advertise the project at their universities and to encourage students to attend the workshops and apply for the competition. The internships will be offered to students from universities across London and will help them to develop their workplace skills through on-the-job training to enable them to compete in the job market with increased confidence. These opportunities will be advertised at universities across London with emphasis on trying to reach students from lower income backgrounds. The Mayor’s Fund for London internships will employ the interns on fixed term contracts for a 6-month period for 3.5 hours per week. The Mayor’s Fund has confirmed that the interns will be paid London Living Wage for those hours worked.

The mentorship programme for finalists and applicants that was run in 2018 and 2019 will be expanded for the 2020 competition to include at least 30 places. Mentors will be sourced through partners such as C40, Citi, London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB).

The funds awarded to the competition winners/winning teams each year will facilitate the creation of new businesses in London, strengthening the low carbon circular economy and contributing to the Mayoral aim to make London a world leader in innovation, technology and a hub of new ideas and creativity. Previously ideas submitted had to contribute towards reducing direct and indirect CO2 emissions in London. The three additional awards will need to show that they do not actively increase carbon emissions and will also be judged against the following criteria:

• Originality;
• Capacity for commercialisation;
• Clarity of proposal;
• Relevance to the aims of the award/challenge; and
• Positive impact on the environment and society.

Within each of the 4 award topics, challenges will be set by the relevant GLA teams to highlight current areas of work for the GLA and identify areas where improvement would be particularly valuable. These will have the joint aims of harnessing London’s student innovation to solve London’s challenges but also providing guidance as to the types of idea expected to be submitted to each award.

The projects will cover a range of issues across the four areas, but all ideas submitted must align with the Mayoral aim to deliver good growth for our city - growth that makes London cleaner, greener and ready for the future. Previous winners and finalists include:

• Bio-bean: An award-winning green energy company which collects waste coffee grounds and recycles them into Advanced Biofuels. This company is now employing 60 people across two sites.
• BLOCKS: A modular smartwatch that is composed of easily assembled and replaceable modules that each carry out a different function.
• Bump Mark: Developed a food expiry label that is bio-reactive, meaning it goes bad exactly when the food inside the package does too, helping reduce waste. The team has grown to five people.
• Aeropowder: developing natural insulation materials from waste chicken feathers. They have recently launched their first product to customers which is a reusable insulation material for food deliveries, PLUUMO.
• Twipes: developed hygienic, water-dispersible wet wipes on a roll designed to fit into existing toilet roll holders. They are free from harsh chemicals and dissolve in water within three hours.
• WithLula: developing zero-waste, fully-flushable sanitary products.

Finances

The project has throughout its life been financially supported through a commercial sponsor. In 2012 Berkeley Homes sponsored the project, from 2013 to 2015 Siemens were the commercial sponsor and from 2016 to 2019 the Citi Foundation was the commercial sponsor. The 2020 round of the competition is being funded by the Citi Foundation.

To be considered for funding from Citi Foundation, applicants must be registered charities. Therefore, the GLA worked with the Mayor’s Fund for London to secure $340,000 (circa £262,000 at current exchange rate of 1.3 dollars to the pound) of sponsorship funding from the Citi Foundation to support the project for 2020. The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. Their focus is on increasing financial inclusion, catalysing job opportunities for youth, and reimagining approaches to building economically vibrant cities. It is proposed that the Mayor will enter an agreement with the Mayor’s Fund for London for the GLA to deliver the project in 2020. The GLA plans to use £235,800 to deliver the project.

In kind funding from the Mayor’s Fund and the GLA has been calculated as part of the applications process. This includes use of desk space (costed by FM as £22,500 per desk per year); use of meeting rooms and the Chamber and the London Living Room for the end of year awards event; and salaries for project management, marketing, web, design, press, finance and senior staff attendance at events. This in-kind contribution was valued at £104,723 per year for the GLA and £2,717 for the Mayor’s Fund per annum (breakdown provided in appendix 1).

Objectives

• To engage with London’s higher education students on carbon and energy reduction as well as wider environmental issues facing London due to the importance of universities in a zero-carbon future;

• To work with lecturers and university staff to deliver workshops to achieve our joint outcomes through pooling resources;

• To grow the low carbon circular economy by supporting the creation of new green businesses and to make London a world leader in innovation, technology and a hub of new ideas and creativity;

• To provide students with direct employability training by offering paid internships and unpaid mentoring opportunities;

• To engage with more lecturers from a broader range of disciplines which could result in more universities using the competition for teaching activities including accredited course work and further advancing these themes in the universities;

• To hold a high-profile awards event attended by the Mayor and well known entrepreneurs;

• To continue to expand the influence and scope of the competition, building stronger relationships and “brand” awareness across all London higher education institutions; and

• To assist students in developing workplace skills.

Expected outputs

• Employability and entrepreneurship training delivered to 800 London students per year;

• 28 paid internships to support the project;

• Over 600 competition entries per year from across London’s higher education institutions;

• 30 mentoring opportunities for finalists and additional applicants;

• Semi-final boot camps for the top 120 ideas for students;

• At least 4 winning student business ideas, to be developed using the corporately sponsored development fund into viable businesses; and

• An annual high profile judging and awards ceremony celebrating the students’ success.

The project is open to all students, from any discipline, who are over 18 from any of London’s higher education institutions which includes those with protected characteristics. The project is advertised through various methods including face to face, presentations by the interns and GLA team members in lectures, digital marketing via social media and through leaflets and fliers.

The student interns are recruited from universities across London and work at their individual universities to encourage students from all backgrounds to participate in the project. Students are more relaxed and tend to pay more attention when they are approached by a fellow student approaching them instead of a lecturer or a member staff.

We run workshops for students from all universities across London at City Hall as well as smaller targeted workshops at some of the less advantaged universities to actively encourage students who would not usually take part in similar workshops and competitions.

The only limiting factor for eligibility to apply to the project is that the applicants are or have recently (graduated in the previous year) been students at a London university or college.

a) Key Risks and Issues

Two risks have been identified and plans have been put in place to minimise the potential of these situations occurring and their possible impact. The first is the risk of a lack of student engagement which is seen as being a low probability but medium impact risk. This will be avoided using a variety of communication tools and incentives for students to get involved. The strong network of staff contacts at London’s universities and colleges established in previous years also helps to mitigate against this risk.

The second risk relates to the external sponsorship of the project being discontinued or withdrawn. This is seen as being a low probability but high impact risk. Planned continual communication with the sponsor over the next year will minimise this risk to ensure their expectations and performance indicators are understood and met. To further reduce this risk other potential sponsors will be investigated and representatives invited to attend the high-profile events. This also raises the profile of the competition and the students’ ideas.

b) Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

The links are:

• The project supports the Mayor’s ambitious manifesto target to make London a zero-carbon city by 2050;
• The project also supports the Mayor’s manifesto promise to be the most pro-business Mayor yet, working in partnership with industry to deliver on skills, infrastructure, and growth; and
• The project also contributes to the Economic Development Strategy aim to make London a world leader in innovation, technology and a hub of new ideas and creativity.

Mayoral approval is sought for the receipt of funding, via a funding agreement between the GLA and the Mayor’s Fund for London, totalling US$340,000 (circa £262,000 at the current exchange rate) to deliver the Mayor’s Entrepreneur competition in 2020.

Funding from the foundation will come to the Environment Team via the Mayor’s Fund for London as a funding agreement between the Mayor’s Fund for London and the Greater London Authority. Payment of the funding to the Greater London Authority will be in line with what is agreed in the funding agreement.

The Mayor’s Fund for London will retain £26,200 over the period to cover administration costs associated with the grant agreement, leaving the Greater London Authority with £235,800 of the funding to deliver the project over two financial years with forecasted spend of £105,700 (2019/20) and £130,100 (2020/21). Any exchange rate losses will be contained within the Unit’s budget.

Under section 30 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (the “Act”), the Mayor, acting on behalf of the GLA, is entitled to do anything that he considers will further the promotion, within Greater London, of economic development and wealth creation, social development and improvement of the environment. It appears that the above proposals fall within the section 30 powers.

The GLA should satisfy itself that the proposed arrangements are within the charitable objects of the Mayor’s Fund for London, that Citi Foundation as the proposed source of funds is aware of the details of the proposed arrangements, and that nothing that the GLA does could be characterised as designed to avoid the payment of tax or avoid other legal obligations.

Under section 34 of the Act, the GLA may do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, any functions of the GLA. This report indicates that the decisions requested of the Mayor may be viewed as falling within the GLA’s powers to do anything which is facilitative of or conducive or incidental to the GLA’s exercise of its power under Section 30 of the Act to promote economic development, social development and improvement of the environment within Greater London. In this regard, the Mayor’s Entrepreneur Project will promote student innovation, employability and entrepreneurship.

In taking the decisions requested of him, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it, and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it . To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Any procurement required and authorised should be undertaken in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and in consultation with Transport for London’s procurement team, who will determine the procurement strategy.

Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of services.

The GLA may seek sponsorship in accordance with its relevant policies and proper conduct as a public body. Officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place between and executed by the GLA and the Mayor’s Fund for London before any reliance is placed on such funding.

As the fixed term interns will be engaged by The Mayor’s Fund for London and therefore have a formal line manager within the Mayor’s Fund for London, no formal creation of posts within the GLA is required. The recruitment should keep in mind equal opportunities obligations and should be subject to the fixed term interns having the legal right to work in the UK.

1. Planned delivery schedule is set out below

1. London’s university/college students and recent graduates are encouraged to submit existing, or develop new, innovative business ideas in one of the four sectors. A high-profile communications campaign involving social media, university staff and lecturers, and a series of workshops serve to attract entries.
3. The initial stage of student engagement in the initiative is the recruitment of 28 paid part-time interns from universities across London that will be employed by the Mayor’s Fund and support the team at City Hall. These students are trained in the aims of the project and in how to pitch it to other students within their institution. This will give them direct work experience and help them to develop soft skills that will further increase their employability. The focus will be on getting students from a range of universities across London to try and bridge the opportunity gap. By having students from disadvantaged backgrounds employed through this project it provides benefits not only to the student in the form of increased confidence and exposure to a working environment but also to the university in the form, of positive publicity and encouragement of their future students. Interns form a valuable link between the students and staff at the universities with City Hall.
5. Idea development workshops conducted at universities across London (800 students) and City Hall will allow students to gain a better understanding of the 4 award topic areas and the low carbon economy, its importance to London and the opportunities it opens for them to create their own commercially viable business as well as more details on how to enter the competition.
7. All applicants are offered an additional training workshop to help these potential entrepreneurs gain confidence in communicating, marketing, and pitching their ideas to this project and potential investors. In addition to applicant training 120 semi-finalists (30 per award) will be selected by expert judging panels and attend half day boot camps to develop their ideas and improve their pitching. These 120 will then present additional information on their ideas allowing another expert judging panel to select the top five from each category. The 20 finalists will then be provided with specialist advice, pitching training, ideas development support and training tailored to their business idea.
9. 20 finalists are invited to pitch, Dragon’s Den style, to a panel of celebrity entrepreneurs (past judges have included Dame Vivienne Westwood, Jo Malone MBE, Dame Ellen MacArthur, Richard Reed and Deborah Meaden). The pitching and awards ceremony takes place at a high-profile event at City Hall, with four winning business ideas selected to receive a £20,000 prize fund each to start-up their business. In addition, these businesses, and other selected finalists, receive ongoing support and mentoring.
11. A mentorship programme was introduced in 2018 where finalists, students who have applied to the competition or who have been employed as interns are selected to be mentored by staff from the sponsors Citi and other Mayor’s Fund for London corporate partners. With the three new awards this initiative will be expanded to include the 20 finalists. This provides students with valuable techniques and advice from professionals and industry experts to help them develop their business ideas as well as giving the students a clear focus and helping them to achieve their objectives. It will also strengthen the message being sent to universities about the wider competition and its ability to support students into careers.