The Lilac Review UK

Carolyn Parker, an author, spoke to the team about her thoughts on The Lilac Review and her experiences as a Disabled founder. Video shows a busy scene on the terrace of the House of Lords with Carolyn talking to camera.

The Lilac Review launched to level-up disabled entrepreneurship. It will undertake extensive research into the challenges and opportunities faced by disabled founders. Image description: A testimonial graphic for "The Lilac Review." The quote within a speech bubble reads: “Disability itself is incredibly diverse and impacts us in so many different ways. Some people have a significant privilege that supports them, while others don’t have the same access and support.” Quote is attributed to Lee Chambers, Founder of Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing. The quote is set against a white background with blue accents, and there's a small image of Lee Chambers, wearing glasses in the lower right corner.

Small Business Britain are on a mission to increase the number of female business owners from 20% to 30% by 2030. An important part of that work is understanding why women start their businesses in the first place, the challenges they face and what support is needed. As part of their research in partnership with Square and Clearpay (Afterpay) they surveyed more than 1000 female business owners as well as visited some in their businesses for a more in-depth chat, including the inspiring Joël Burgess, founder of Sweet Soaps, where we learn about how she started her business and fell in love with it (https://lnkd.in/ek_TsqKN). Please do have a watch and you can read or listen to the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eSZNFtpf Video shows Joël talking to camera and making soap. Joël is a black deaf woman and is using sign language to communicate and she is sitting on a chair looking into camera.

Digital Accessibility Coach and founder of Impact With Lou, Louise Plunkett chatted to the team about The Lilac Review and the current support available to Disabled founders.

I’ve often referred to myself as ‘not a typical consultant’ – but I’m also not typically neurodivergent either: a CAT scan a few years back found a missing gland in my brain (the one that regulates sleep and emotions), which means I’m structurally ND. The Doctors concluded that I’ve compensated for this by having a higher degree of neuroplasticity than a ‘regular’ human (on the basis that I don’t need lots of drugs to function without it, as other people do!) - and such plasticity is definitely a boon when it comes to being self-employed: it helps me to be able to more quickly and easily work on lots of different and new projects, and with an ever-changing array of ‘quirks’ that each new client presents. Considering I always ‘jumped jobs’ when I was younger (I never stayed in the same job for more than 2 years, usually less), since I became self-employed nearly 20 years ago I’m now wondering: did the structure of my brain (or lack thereof) when I was born, mean I was always destined to freelance? Adrian Ashton is a provider of enterprise and development support to charities, social enterprises, businesses, universities, sector bodies, and government agencies (offering consultancy; mentoring; training; facilitation; research and policy) https://ow.ly/OqXu50TgbeZ Image description: Adrian is on the right side of the image, looking curiously at a brain scan displayed on a monitor to the left. The brain scan shows a detailed MRI image in black and white. Adrian wears a casual jacket over a collared shirt.

One of the key findings and recommendations from The Lilac Review Interim Report is: To create and implement mentoring initiatives - focused on the unique needs of disabled entrepreneurs, offering flexible, relevant support. Click the link to read the full report: https://ow.ly/sP2e50SF43H Image description: Promotional graphic for The Lilac Review Interim Report. Recommendations For Government: Create and implement mentoring initiatives focused on the unique needs of Disabled entrepreneurs.

Stephanie Ward - Virtual Assistant founder of Spicy Brain Energy shared her thoughts with us on the current support available to Disabled founders and the work of the Lilac Review.

One of the key findings and recommendations included in The Lilac Review Interim Report is: To create and implement mentoring initiatives - focused on the unique needs of disabled entrepreneurs, offering flexible, relevant support. Click the link to read the full report: https://ow.ly/sP2e50SF43H Image description: Promotional graphic for The Lilac Review Interim Report. Recommendations For Government: Create and implement mentoring initiatives focused on the unique needs of Disabled entrepreneurs.

The need for the Lilac Review was highlighted by the ‘Disability and Entrepreneurship report’, launched by Small Business Britain in March 2023 in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group. The report found disabled entrepreneurs face significant barriers to start and grow businesses, such as higher start-up costs, challenges accessing funding and support, as well as a lack of credit by wider society. Read more about The Lilac Review here: https://ow.ly/Z1FZ50Qz8yC Image Description: A call to action graphic from 'The Lilac Review'. It features a prominent purple rectangle with the words 'COMMIT TO CHANGE' in bold white letters. The background is white and decorated with abstract plus signs and circles in varying shades of purple and blue. Below the rectangle, 'The Lilac Review' is written in smaller blue text.

My name is Richard, and I am the founder of Richer Solutions. Our business offers coaching, mentoring, consultancy and branding. Over the past three years, we have worked with hundreds of small businesses, supporting them on their business journey with advice and support and witnessing the transformative impact of our work. A good reason to start a business is to sell what you want to buy and can't find anywhere else. Early-stage ND founders need support with the challenges of Neurodiversity and the overwhelm of starting a new business. So, I am developing a business support programme to help neurodivergent entrepreneurs thrive which will launch in 2025. In the meantime, I work as a coach, mentor, brand, and business consultant to many ND business owners, bringing my experience of working on global brands to SMEs and start-ups. The programme will be based on my own experiences with ADHD and business, my work with ND-owned SMEs, and my understanding that they need something different. Traditional approaches aren't always suitable and this new toolkit is being created to offer flexibility, provide the proper scaffolding, and maximise support for individual needs. It's what I wish I'd had when I was starting out. Image description: The image is a black-and-white portrait of Richard, founder of Richer Solutions. He is a man and is wearing a suit jacket over a collared shirt. He is smiling broadly and looking slightly to the side. The background is a plain, light colour, and the image is presented within a circular frame.