Education, Mentorship & Business
At a time when the wealth gap is widening, these organisations are finding inventive ways to bring opportunity to all
51 Ethex
Led by CEO Lisa Ashford, Ethex is one of the leading organisations in the social investment sector, recognised for its advocacy for ethical investment. Over the past 10 years, it has raised £100 million from 20,000 investors to support 200 businesses, many of which would have been unable to raise the finance they need in any other way. Their nominator wrote: “All the businesses Ethex works with contribute to at least one of its priorities: fighting climate change, building resilient communities and creating a fairer society. Climate change is an existential threat to all of us. At a time when we’re seeing fractured communities and a growing distance between rich and poor, helping people to invest in businesses that aim to heal the damage done by how our economy and society is structured couldn’t be more relevant.”
ethex.org.uk
52 Everything D&I Ltd
In modern Britain, talent is everywhere but opportunity is not. Everything D&I aims to ensure that opportunities are accessible to all. The charity, which works with Big Issue Recruit, a specialist recruitment service helping people who face barriers to employment, launched five years ago out of frustration that the pathways to gaining work experience were not equitable. Their nominator wrote: “In the cost of living crisis it is even more evident that if you do not empower underrepresented groups the outcomes will never change. Everything D&I opens doors to not only access work experience with leading organisations including Microsoft, Rolls-Royce and Ford, but also create opportunities for undergraduates and 16- to 18-year-olds.”
edi.careers
53 Joe Seddon
Zero Gravity
Coming from a single-parent household, Seddon has firsthand experience of the challenges faced by students from low-opportunity backgrounds. After securing a place at the University of Oxford he set up Zero Gravity with £200 of his student loan. Since its launch, the platform has supported 8,000+ students getting into selective universities, including 800+ into Oxbridge. At just 26, Seddon has positioned himself as a role model within the tech industry, having been named in Forbes 30 Under 30 and honoured in King Charles’s Birthday Honours List. His nominator wrote: “Joe�
