First Venture

Space colony illustration

First Venture is an annual prize supporting young students aged 11–18 across London state schools to explore entrepreneurship and social innovation. The aim is to encourage a generation of young makers to build, test, and grow their ideas. The award offers a small grant, mentorship, and resources.

FOR TEACHERS FOR STUDENTS LETTER

FOR TEACHERS

Thank you for being here! We know that schools are largely underfunded and under-resourced. We co-designed this course after a pilot with feedback from both students and teachers to make this a fun addition to the curriculum.

If you are interested in offering this to your school, please fill out this form. We'll reach out and send a short deck to share with your students.

For any students who want to submit an application for nomination, you can refer them to us directly using the form in the teacher materials we send.

Who can apply?
Young students aged 11-18 attending state schools in London. Students can apply as a team (maximum of 4) or as an individual.
How developed does the idea have to be?

We don't expect the students to have made a fully fledged app or website. Prioritise schoolwork please. The referral form is quite similar to Y Combinator and asks:

  1. What is the problem you're interested in tackling?
  2. What is the solution you want to design?
  3. How is it sustainable and scalable?
  4. Why now and why you?
Who judges the award?
A team of volunteer founders across industries score the applications.
What do students win?
The selected startup idea wins a grant to support the project, a certificate and trophy, and access to mentorship opportunities. If students apply as a group, the grant would be split equally.

FOR STUDENTS

This award is specifically for young students aged 11-18 attending state schools in London. If your teacher has enrolled your school please reach out to them for any specific instructions. I look forward to learning more about your idea!

If you can't take part for any reason at all, here are some resources that might be helpful nonetheless:

Accelerators:

Alternative programmes:

Podcasts:

Books:

Use your local library. I beg of you! There is no need to buy every copy and if you can't find a copy, you can usually request one to be ordered.

Articles/Sites:

Founder Letter

In 2020, I set up a small course that ran social impact workshops across a few London state schools. It was called Nobody Gets Fired for Building a Well, based on Clayton Christensen's work. It explored how nonprofit initiatives, despite well intentioned, sometimes suck and made a case for-profit co-designed structures. Most of this was funded by Kiran and Amna.

'Social impact' as a term never feels quite right but much of the tech / start-up world is soulless and philanthropy can be condescending and ineffectual. I was 24 and absolutely naive… but my views on capitalism and aid haven't changed much and I'm even more bullish that a) more young folks should build things, play and fail and b) business can do this. We vote our dollars/pounds every time we spend and I grew up inspired by Patagonia, Tony's Chocolonely, Who Gives A Crap, and Samasource to name a few.

It was turning 21 in San Francisco that changed my life and how I thought about risk, possibility and failure. In the UK, what you choose to study in sixth form can feel permanent. I longed for a liberal arts approach to university and cared about causes or problems versus just one discipline (I snuck into lectures across departments throughout my undergrad).

I wanted to create something for students who may have never heard of entrepreneurship but who were curious and optimistic about tackling big problems. The goal isn't to prepare them for a specific career but to build their self-efficacy—your belief in your ability to accomplish something. This is something I researched deeply for my MSc thesis. Self-efficacy isn't developed through lectures; it comes from actually doing. When you build a prototype, pitch an idea, or learn from failure, you're building real capability and confidence.

I'm 30 now. I always imagined doing this much later in life, after I had my life sorted out (reader, I am by no means rich, I don't own a house and I have never driven a car). However I know that even a small grant at that age can be transformative, or at least it would have been for me. It could buy a 3D printer, pay for a prototype or fund an early experiment.

So I'm delighted to launch First Venture, an annual prize for young students aged 11–18 attending state schools in London. The award is designed to encourage young students to explore entrepreneurship and take their first risk.

If even one young student turns an idea into something tangible or learns to embrace risk and failure head on, then this is absolutely worth it.

I can't wait to see what you build.

Sara

First Ventures is funded by Sara Berkai, founder of Ambessa and TAVI. A first-generation university student, Sara earned an MSc in Child Development from the University of Oxford and a first-class BSc from University College London. She has been recognised as Forbes 30 Under 30 in Social Impact, a UN ITU Young ICT Leader, and a BBC 100 Women honoree. Sara has lectured at UC Berkeley and MIT on co-design in education and serves on the advisory boards of UCL's School of Management and SXSW EDU.