LONDON, UK: Funding Focus Investment Trust plc, (FFIT) the funding belief for feminine and under-represented entrepreneurs, is in course of of seeking approval of a prospectus from the FCA with a view to launching an offer for subscription, a bourse submitting noted.
It has filed an Early Notification of Listing with the London Stock Exchange. FFIT will offer investors entry to companies it has recognized as excessive growth companies throughout the UK and Europe, led by entrepreneurs who identify as feminine and/or non-white ethnicity.
Funding Focus Investment Trust plc, (FFIT) seeks to address the chronic under-investment in feminine and under-represented entrepreneurs of all genders within the UK and Europe, and to rectify the strong bias within the enterprise capital industry towards all male founding teams.
For example, throughout the UK and Europe, regardless of the record-breaking sums invested, the share of funding to mixed gender teams fell from 14.6% in 2020 to 13.6% in 2021, and the share to all-female teams collapsed from 2.4% to simply 1.0% of the total.
The Board has extensive investment, entrepreneurial and skilled experience and is chaired by Shalini Khemka, CBE, Founder & CEO of E2E and Business Advisory Board Member to The Mayor of London.
She was a former Investment Director at Lloyds Development Capital and Dealmaker for the Government focused on attracting quick growth tech start-ups to the UK. The different Non-Executive Directors are: Julie Pomeroy (Chartered Accountant and skilled listed firm Finance Director), Fran Boorman (award-winning enterprise chief and author), Sophie Milliken (multi-award winning entrepreneur), Mehmuda Mian (former solicitor in commercial and skilled indemnity litigation).
The Executive Directors and Founders of FFIT are David B Horne (CEO) and John P de Blocq van Kuffeler (CIO).
Shalini Khemka CBE, Chair of Funding Focus Investment Trust said: “Having labored directly in private fairness for a variety of years and extra recently not directly with enterprise capital firms throughout the UK, it concerns me greatly that there’s significant under-representation of each women and ethnic minorities in management positions and on funding committees. Our purpose is to address these unfair challenges by giving entry to capital typically required by these teams as they scale their businesses. I am happy to be working alongside David, John and 4 very skilled women, all of whom will be sitting on FFIT’s funding committee.”
David B Horne, CEO & Founder of Funding Focus Investment Trust said: “We believe that many companies don’t lack imaginative and prescient or potential, they simply lack entry to appropriate capital and governance to assist them realise their growth potential. Our role is to identify and support these visionary and innovative entrepreneurs and their companies through fairness funding to fully realise their potential.”