Founder, Built by us

Danna Walker

“Hatch is the difference between singing in the bedroom and singing on stage.”

Danna’s career started with an apprenticeship as an electrician, not the typical career path for a young women. She then retrained as an architect but her real passion was to address the inequalities in the UK Building Industry faced by women and black and minority groups. 

She entered our Incubator programme in 2016 determined to change the face of the Building Industry.

In the short space of just 2 years, she is one of the UK’s biggest influencers to pushing the diversity & inclusion agenda in her sector. She recently presented Architecture of Incarceration on BBC Radio 4, got interviewed by architectsjournal.co.uk & womanthology.co.uk, as well as sharing her story in the UK’s first Women In Construction Summit. Yet, when we met Danna, Built By Us had only been incorporated for a year as a limited company and it was far from the incredible not-for-profit consultancy she needed to address the big challenges her industry is facing.

As part of the Incubator, Danna benefited greatly from our modular business training but it was the mentoring programme that had the biggest impact on her and pushed her business. “My mentor, Ignacio Delcastillo, from Deutsche Bank was brilliant, understanding and driven. He now sits on the Advisory Board for Built By Us.”

Mentoring is now part of her business model and Hatch shared our methodology, our mentor handbook and resources for her to apply it to her specific setting. She now has 3 live mentoring programmes working with almost 100 mentors and mentees across 2 existing programmes called “Shape” (16 mentors/ mentees) and “Fluid” (80 mentors/ mentees) and is launching a new programme called “Build”. These programmes link volunteer mentors and mentees from across the construction industry, with construction professionals from diverse backgrounds and at different career stages. In her last financial year she turned over £15,000, with growth anticipated for 2019 at £45,000. 

Her needs are to operationalise the company further, especially around selling her mentoring programmes, as well as getting help with impact measurement and reporting.

Founder, Particle6

Eline van der Velden

“Our last quarter was our most successful quarter last year. I think that’s because of the course”

Eline, an award-winning Actress/Writer/Director and ex-Managing Director of Makers, joined the programme to scale Particle 6, an award-winning media production company that brings a science perspective to complex stories and makes them accessible and entertaining.

Particle 6 was in its second year when Eline joined the programme, and while the company survived early rough patches, “there was no structure, and that wasn’t very scalable,” reflects Eline. But, Particle 6 was growing fast. It had made its first international sale earlier in 2018, and although equity investors were showing interest, “I was very anti raising money” says Eline, “I didn’t know how or why anyone would give me money.”

“I was looking for an accelerator programme in order for me to really be that next level leader.”

But, finding the right accelerator was a problem, “There was nowhere to give me any guidance, any structure whatsoever. Nothing to help me that was reasonably priced”.

“Somebody suggested Hatch, and it turned out really well” says Eline, “the content of the course was really at a level of high-achieving people and it was very beneficial for me”.

Specialist financial mentoring provided Eline with the skills and confidence she needed to work with investors. “Jess was phenomenal. She really knew about the stuff that I needed to learn about.” As a result of Hatch’s support, Eline created a Board of Advisors who have been given options to raise finance for Particle 6. “I was able to negotiate these options with my advisors very confidently because thanks to the support I received from the FFA Programme. I also knew what the company was worth because I’d been able to do a valuation thanks to the financial projections I did. This is all because of the course. Six months earlier I had no idea what my company might be valued at.”

The programme provided space to reflect, and expert guidance, helping Eline to step back, and “take more of that visionary role into the future and ensure that top-level company stuff is sorted out and not the day-to-day running of it”. As a result, Eline implemented a new structure at Particle 6, adding full-time employees to the pre-existing pool of freelancers.

The course brought a host of unexpected benefits for Eline and her whole team. Her programme attendance created an absence from the office, which meant Eline had to delegate more responsibility and her employees developed greater independence. “It was nice for them that it was forced in this way, otherwise it probably wouldn’t have happened.” Eline’s course attendance also brought a fresh enthusiasm to Particle 6, “I had lists and lists of all these things I wanted to do and I never normally would have that.  I’d come in Monday morning and be “This is what we need to work on.”

The company has benefitted in other ways too.  Two employees attended a sales mentoring session with Eline, and, implementing ‘really good suggestions’ from experts, Particle 6 overhauled its website.

Eline’s experience of Female Founders’ Accelerator has shifted her previously sceptical approach to training, and her team is benefitting. “ I’ve realised the power in training. I have these four managers at the top, just underneath me – I’ve put some management training in for them.”

“A lot has changed since I’ve done the programme.” says Eline, looking back on her experience. “I have more of a hold on the business and can think further into the future”

Founder, Camberwell Fair/ Wormfood Music

Andre Marmout

Working with Dirk has been amazing because he understood what we wanted to do and applied his knowledge around fundraising, impact measurement and evaluation to ensure we’re doing the right things when it came to raising money and reporting on our outcomes. We secured over £100,000 in the last 3 years and we are excited to continue our work.

From 1279 to 1855, Camberwell Fair was held every August. A local Committee for the Abolition of Camberwell Fair was set up by prominent residents who pressurised the parish authorities into buying the Green and closing down the fair with the help of the police. When Andre came to Hatch with Wormfood Music, he also came with a special project: To revive the Camberwell Fair.

We worked with him to assess his funding options and helped structure funding proposals to Southwark Council and the Arts Council. We went through the economic planning of the fair, establishing a business case for it and what the provided funding would return to Camberwell in terms of a social return on investment. Hatch also helped plan the evaluation of the fair, ensuring that funding reports and impact measurements were incorporated from the onset.

With the approval of the funding and securing additional private sponsors, 2015 saw the revival of Camberwell Fair and 2016 its continuation. Over 3,500 people joined on the day, with over 70% of them being from the local community. Over 80% of people who were surveyed said they enjoyed the fair because “something was happening again in Camberwell and it brought the community together.” The fair also involved many local organisations such as the Camberwell School of Arts, The Remakery, local designers and artists.

Founder, Solocal

Joly Zou

“The programme brings women together to support and empower each other. My business is all about empowering and connecting women around the world – it fits perfectly with the programme.”

Joly was born in a traditional Chinese family in Northeastern China and believed the paths to success were education and “golden bowls” (means a job that you get to keep for a lifetime), so entrepreneurship was never really on her radar. 

When she decided to quit her job to start her business, her mum cried for months telling her that she was “destroying her golden life”. Over the course of a mid-career gap-year, Joly travelled around the world alone, seeking new experiences, and opportunities that would revive a sense of purpose in her life. Rather than feeling “trapped” in a job that couldn’t give her what she wanted anymore, she decided to create something that would help her, and women like her as they went on their own personal journeys. 

Joly Zou started her company Solocal Travel to empower women to explore, learn and grow via travelling. A former Global Marketing Manager for Microsoft, Joly decided to use her skills to build a platform that would represent her and her hopes for society. She sought to create a world in which women can feel connected, safe and able to explore and learn about different community and cultures while making a positive impact on the local community. 

With no experience in entrepreneurship, Joly was left with the myths and legends rather than practical startup knowledge. When she went full steam ahead into the entrepreneurship world with her skills as a corporate employee, she found that the same rules didn’t apply. She no longer had a large budget and a large team implementing on her behalf. It was all on her. To help her deal with her new reality and to learn ways people building startups actually make a success of them, she decided to join the Hatch BAME Female Founders Incubator.

Founder, School Ground Sounds

Tom Scott

Hatch has been instrumental in where SGS is today. The team has supported us with securing funding, helped with communicating our offer in a clear way and pointed us towards a range of helpful local opportunities.

When Tom joined the Hatch Incubator in 2015 his social enterprise was little more than an idea, but with a strong methodology of using music to help young people from disadvantaged areas succeed in the education system. We advised him on his legal structure, but with everything having to be set-up from scratch, our pro-bono law partner Skadden did most of the heavy lifting.

Through the Incubator programme we helped him refine his business model, we also accompanied Tom through our mentorship programme. Hatch continued to share ways to engage corporate funders, a model Tom was keen to try. In 2016 a corporate partner, “Orbit Sounds”, came on board donating a percentage of revenue for every product sold to the charity. In the four years of operation, SGS have received a total of £200,000 in funding, including £100,000 in grants from trusts and foundations.

SGS now has an impact on 350 young people across 50 schools in London. SGS has been featured in various publications and has appeared on Sky News recently to comment on a report about the worsening state of music education.