Pizza Hut UK & Ireland relaunches New Founder Programme for budding entrepreneurs

The programme lets entrepreneurs access the tools and skills needed to start their businesses. 

Research by Pizza Hut UK & Ireland revealed that 65% of people with an additional income stream would love to give up their day job to focus on their passion project and turn it into a full-time business.

 Yet, over a third fear, a lack of consistent income would be the main barrier, and 23% are uncertain about the demand in the market for their offering. 23% have already been knocked back when trying to scale up - and this stat grows to 37% for those from underrepresented communities.

For one in four of those from underrepresented communities, they did not get access to capital or funding to help expand, and 29% had limited time and resources to scale the side hustle.

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To help young entrepreneurs get started, Pizza Hut has re-launched its ‘New Founder Programme’, a two-stage initiative offered in continued partnership with Hatch and designed to offer entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds the tools and skills needed to start their businesses. 

The Launchpad phase is a selective 13-week programme for early-stage entrepreneurs who want to turn their business idea into a reality; the Incubator phase is a selective 16-week programme for those who have already started making money, or have customers, clients or one part-time member of staff and want to turn their side hustle into a full-time job.

According to Emily Curtis, Head of People, Operations & Social Purpose at Pizza Hut UK & Ireland, the issues today remain prevalent since the programme first started in 2021.

“As such, we have broadened the scope of our initial programme to include even more people who are not being considered for support, education, or investment to offer the tools and skills they need to start their businesses – even our own team members. Inspired by the stories of our own franchise community, we originally launched the New Founder Programme as a way to give back to the local community and support budding entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds to start their businesses. Now our people have the chance to benefit from the programme too,” Curtis said.

To date, almost £2.5m has been invested into the New Founder Programme, including a Grant Scheme, reaching 1,025 entrepreneurs across the UK and helping to found 97 new businesses and create 220 new jobs.