Over 50? Passionate about your idea? Read on...!

Date added: Thursday 23rd September 2010
Latest updated: Wednesday 9th May 2012

Search for Individuals with a Passion and an Idea!

UnLtd Engage launches in England and Wales on August 1, supported by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, an awards scheme aimed for individuals aged 50+ or younger, with an idea for a project which will:

  •  Inspire self-belief and well being in an older population (health and wellbeing, social and community involvement, recreation)
  • Make the most of opportunities (working, volunteering, innovative approaches to getting older, making changes)
  • Value shared wisdom and experience (ending isolation , loneliness, positive perception, breaking down inter-generational barriers)

UnLtd Engage is looking for 30 entrepreneurial individuals with a passion and an idea which will bring about positive change in attitudes and approaches to getting older. 

  • We will make 30 Start-up Awards  of £2,500  with dedicated development support to provide a launchpad for new ideas. 
  • At a later stage we will make further 3 Development Awards of £15,000 to 3 UnLtd Engage Award Winners to facilitate scale up and replication of their ideas. 
  • We will grow an UnLtd Engage Fellowship, a movement for lasting change to a population living longer.  September 30th is the deadline for all Start-Up Award applications.

 

Getting older - problem or opportunity? UnLtd is the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, market leaders in providing cash awards and development support to extraordinary individuals with drive, determination and an idea to effect change in their communities.  We are delighted to partner the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in this pioneering programme to ignite the spark of social entrepreneurship for a generation which is losing visibility and self-worth in a young-image society.

By 2025, more than half the UK population will be over 55.  Better healthcare means people are living longer - the numbers of people aged 85+ grew by 69k in 2006 to 1.2m. We're living longer and staying active until much later in life. Employment and investment opportunities are increasingly hard to find for older people who are often more motivated by the opportunity to use their skills and experience in a valuable way than by income and profit. In areas of high social deprivation and within our BME communities, older people on low incomes will not fit existing ‘retirement patterns'; an area ripe for social change, fertile ground for social entrepreneurs.  So what can older individuals contribute to social entrepreneurship?

•         Time and ideas, skills and experience

•         Insider knowledge of the problems within their communities,

•          establishednetworks and established interests e.g. religious, social, political

•         energy, passion, inspiration and motivation

For further information,  please call 0845 850 1122 or visit our website:  www.unltd.org.uk/Engage, or email: annabelsampson@unltd.org.uk /07779472296