London Social Ventures
Collaboration, Impact, Ecosystem
We are a collaboration of leading London universities seeking to transform how entrepreneurship achieves social impact.
Social ventures originating from a university’s knowledge base hold immense potential to generate significant social and economic impact. However, they often face difficulties in securing the necessary funding and support for growth. While the availability of resources for social ventures has increased, critical gaps and challenges still exist, making it difficult for them to access this support. To create a sustainable, long-term solution, a robust pipeline of emerging social ventures must be developed—a process that requires time, careful nurturing and the development of collaborative partnerships.
The challenge
London Social Ventures aims to launch several pilot programs focused on building a strong pipeline of university-based social ventures, while gaining deeper insights into the support they need to grow and achieve long-term sustainability. This new initiative, born from an innovative collaboration between London universities and partners, seeks to generate a critical mass of social venture activity. By doing so, it will lay the groundwork for a permanent solution that can support and nurture emerging university social ventures across the capital.
The solution
London Social Ventures will focus on building a robust pipeline of social ventures emerging from London universities, supported by a city-wide network offering legal assistance, business model development, mentoring, and more. Through this, we aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of the support ecosystem required for social ventures and to map the scale and scope of the pipeline developing from universities. This will allow us to demonstrate a proof of concept for our approach, while shaping a vision around the development of a longer-term solution such as the development of a fund as well as permanent infrastructure to support this work. As part of our journey we will also be sharing insights and learnings to a variety of stakeholders both across the UK and globally.
The future
“I am delighted that this unique partnership of universities, companies, and local authorities has come together to harness our capabilities and experience to deliver a social venture pipeline that will benefit our communities for years to come.”
Professor Colin Bailey
President and Principal of Queen Mary University of London
Why social ventures?
Social ventures from universities are vital for London as they harness academic expertise to address social challenges, driving both innovation and positive change. These ventures can create jobs, promote sustainability, and improve quality of life, while also fostering a culture of entrepreneurship. Their potential to scale can have a lasting impact on London’s economy and communities.
“Having lived in East London for most of my life, I’ve seen first-hand how inequality has worsened. Social ventures can be a powerful tool in driving positive change and uplifting local communities.
There remains a pressing need to change how we support ventures, especially those led by founders from minority backgrounds or female founders, given the challenges around diversity. This project can be transformative in achieving that.
I’m hopeful that as London universities we can drive positive change, build lasting partnerships, and lay the foundations for a permanent and impactful organisation within the London social impact ecosystem.”
Amir Rizwan
Director of London Social Ventures
Why universities?
Social ventures set up by academics and students are going from strength to strength in Britain. They provide a bridge between world leading innovative research and the wider impact economy.
Social ventures are a means by which universities can achieve greater impact from their research, and a way for business partners, investors, and the public sector to meet their social impact ambitions by backing projects rooted in evidence and impact through a model geared towards generating revenue in order to be sustainable.
“We’re delighted to collaborate with other London universities and partners to see this important initiative get off the ground. UCLB is proud to have pioneered technology transfer for university social ventures.
Our social ventures have made real impact on causes as diverse as improving sustainable farming practices in developing countries, helping promote healthy eating to under-5s, and even creating paints from coal mine waste.
Early-stage social ventures, however, require pre-seed capital, access to public sector procurement and leveraging the local ecosystem, which London Social Ventures will seek to provide.”
Analia Charnalia
Senior Business Manager of UCLB
Why London?
London faces stark inequality, with the wealthiest 10% earning nearly six times more than the bottom 10%, and over a third of children living in poverty. Homelessness has surged by 21% in recent years, highlighting the urgent need for new solutions. As a global hub for start-ups, London is witnessing rapid growth in social ventures that aim to tackle these challenges head-on. The city’s critical mass of corporates and non-university partners are increasingly focused on collaboration, supporting the rise of place-based approaches to address local issues.
Example of social venture
With 40 universities—one of the largest concentrations worldwide—London’s academic network is uniquely positioned to drive social innovation. Universities provide cutting-edge research and talent, helping to develop sustainable solutions and address inequalities, making this the perfect time to focus on social venturing. Together, these factors create a fertile environment for real change in London’s social landscape.
“The University is deeply committed to fostering a culture of innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration within its academic and student community.
The fund is an exciting opportunity to drive positive change and create lasting impact by uniting our efforts across our member institutions, with universities in the wider London higher education sector, and through the University’s London Research and Policy Partnership (LRaPP) with the Greater London Authority.
By connecting the extensive network of UOL/SAS with a shared mission to promote and support research at the national level, we can unlock a multitude of opportunities for knowledge exchange, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and social entrepreneurship.”
Jo Fox
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean, School of Advanced Study of University of London
Our team
Amir Rizwan
Director
William Russell
Social Venture Coordinator
Noureen Vadsaria
Project Manager
Gemma Ashwin
Corporate Partnership Manager
London Social Ventures’ Operations Board
Phil Clare
CEO of Queen Mary Innovation
Ana Lemmo Charnalia
Senior Business Manager at UCLB
Andrew Fairweather-Tall
Director of Research and Innovation at the University of London
Gavin Clark
Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation at the University of the Arts London
Maeva Khachfe
Director of Research, Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise Operations at London Metropolitan University
Our partners
London Social Ventures is a collaboration led by Queen Mary University of London and UCL which includes London Metropolitan University, London Business School, King’s College London, University of London, Goldsmiths University of London, University of the Arts London, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, University of East London, and City University.
Other partners and investors include Barclays Eagle Labs, Sodexo, Central London Forwards, Royal Docks, RAD London, the London Borough of Newham, and the Federation of Small Businesses.
The initial funding comes from Research England.
News
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London Social Ventures Director Amir Rizwan spoke on the Positive Disruptors podcast which...
Get involved
Get funding and support
We support early-stage social ventures founded by students and staff from London universities. Social ventures offer a powerful path to creating real-world impact from your ideas. London Social Ventures’ programs guide you from being a social venture novice to becoming a successful social entrepreneur.
Our support includes workshops and events, connection to peers in other universities, 1:1 support, access to mentorship and expertise and funding.
Invest in social ventures
Social ventures emerging from London universities often need investment to grow and scale their impact, offering an exciting opportunity for impact investors.
Through our work, we explore how to better connect these ventures to the broader impact investing sector and how to best support them on their journey to securing investment.
Come to our events
Learn more about London Social Ventures and the opportunities on offer at our upcoming events.
Our next event is our project launch in mid-October. More details to follow. Sign up for early info.
Join the mailing list.
Become a business partner
Social venturing can play a powerful role in corporate impact aims. By partnering with London Social Ventures, you can benefit from a pipeline of activity coming from London universities.
We offer guidance and expertise on social venturing so you can find opportunities that align with your impact goals (whether thematic or geographic).
Become a public sector partner
Social venturing can play a powerful role in delivering impact at local level and transforming public services.
Work with us to co-create and design approaches, and benefit from private funding to achieve public goals.
Become a university partner
Social venturing is a key route to impact for universities. London Social Ventures can help you establish and grow your pipeline.
Being part of a critical mass of London universities means we can develop strategic partnerships with a range of non-university partners who can help to support this work
Amir Rizwan
Director
Amir Rizwan is the Director of London Social Ventures and takes overall strategic responsibility for London Social Ventures. A proven impact investor with over 11 years of experience, Amir has worked at a range of organisations stretching from Better Society Capital to Macmillan Cancer Support and was responsible for developing Comic Relief’s social investment strategy. He has extensive experience in supporting social ventures to raise finance and of working with a range of investors to develop ways in which they can utilise impact investing to achieve both financial and impact goals.
William Russell
Social Venture Coordinator
Will leads our work to grow the social venture pipeline coming out of London universities and the programmatic design of our venture programme. He began his career teaching English in Salford and London before transitioning into the social venture space through the ‘On Purpose’ program. He has since worked in charity, social investment, and NHS settings, holding various roles supporting social entrepreneurs. Will enjoys the challenge of working with ventures that combine innovation, profit, and purpose.
Noureen Vadsaria
Project Manager
Noureen Vadsaria is a Project Manager for London Social Ventures, where she is leads on the administration and project management of London Social Ventures. With expertise in agile project management and social impact evaluation, she is passionate about sustainable growth and resilience in the UK’s social venture ecosystem, facilitating initiatives that empower marginalised communities, and drive meaningful social change.
Gemma Ashwin
Corporate Partnership Manager
Gemma leads on managing the strategic engagement of high-profile corporate partners, cultivating support and investment for the emerging social ventures for London Social Ventures. She has held several senior positions across multiple organisations within the corporate, government and non-for-profit sectors, leading on corporate fundraising and strategic business development. Gemma is passionate about accelerating innovative business growth and partnerships, delivering high-quality impact, value and financial sustainability.
Phil Clare
CEO of Queen Mary Innovation
Phil has been the CEO of Queen Mary Innovation Ltd since October 2022. QMI is a subsidiary of Queen Mary University of London, that maximises the impact of our research using commercial tools. Prior to that, he spent 16 years at the University of Oxford where he was Director of Innovation and Engagement. He was a member of the Research England Council for 6 years and Ambassador (and former Chair) for Knowledge Exchange UK where he spent 15 years on the board of directors. He previously served on the committee of Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) and as chair of the Knowledge Exchange Concordat evaluation panel for Universities UK. He is a Registered Technology Transfer Professional and a Member of the Institute of Directors. He used to be a chemist and has degrees from Kings College London and the Universities of Bath, Bournemouth and Oxford.
Ana Lemmo Charnalia
Senior Business Manager at UCLB
Ana Lemmo Charnalia is a Senior Business Manager at UCLB, the commercialisation company of UCL. Her current responsibilities include developing social venture opportunities arising from UCL’s research base. She managed the Health Social Innovators’ Programme at UCLB, a partnership with THT Social Investments to support early-stage health ventures which received backing from the Cabinet Office’s Social Incubator Fund. Prior to joining UCLB, Ana provided funding and support to social entrepreneurs across the UK at UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs.
Gavin Clark
Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation at the University of the Arts London
Originally trained as a classical musician, following a hand injury Gavin pursued a career as a microbiologist and research scientist with SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals. In 1998 he refocused his career on commercialising the outputs of academic research, serving a variety of roles in universities in the UK and in New Zealand with senior appointments including Director of Research & Enterprise at the University of Otago (2012-18) and Dean of Enterprise at Massey University (2019-2023).Gavin is co-founder and Chair of SortLogic, an England start-up focused on biotechnology for greater sustainability in farming. Since June 2023 Gavin has been the inaugural Director of Enterprise & Commercialisation at The University of Arts London.
Andrew Fairweather-Tall
Director of Research and Innovation at the University of London
Andrew has been the University of London’s Director of Research and Innovation since April 2024, having joined its School of Advanced Study as Head of Research and Research Partnerships in October 2022. Previously he led Oxford University’s Humanities Research Support team, where he developed a business engagement and knowledge exchange portfolio that included several spinout companies and knowledge transfer partnerships. He works across the University of London and its federal member institutions to establish innovative and cross-cutting partnerships.
Over the past two decades, Andrew has led teams across multiple university research and partnership portfolios alongside personal expertise in research funding, governance and strategy, partnership working and consortia development, stakeholder management and career development and mentoring. He has extensive board-level experience as a charity trustee where he has championed social impact, developed charity fund-raising capacity and led on creating grant-giving strategies.
Maeva Khachfe
Director of Research, Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise Operations at London Metropolitan University
Maeva Khachfe is the Director of Research, Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise Operations at London Metropolitan University. Maeva is responsible for the design, implementation and delivery of London Met’s RKE strategy across the institution and oversight of the central Research Office team. Born in Lebanon, and the first in her family to go to university, Maeva is a fervent advocate of ensuring equity of opportunity to all and proud to be a founding member of London Social Ventures.